With Richards and Carter gone, van Riemsdyk steps into leadership role

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette had to put his trust in James van Riemsdyk first for the Flyers' budding star to begin his ascension. And JVR, as he is known, flourished in the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring seven goals in the Flyers first nine playoff games.

Then Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren bought some stock.

He was so confident in his 22-year-old left winger, as well as 23-year old forward Claude Giroux, that Holmgren placed the Flyers offense in their hands, shipping Mike Richards and Jeff Carter out of town in a pair of trades.

"[With] the ascension of James over the last part of the season and particularly the playoffs, I think we have two good young players there that are on the verge of doing even better things for our team," Holmgren said the same day he traded away 59 goals and 73 assists (from Richards and Carter) and signed goalie Ilya Bryzgalov and added a dash of pressure for van Riemsdyk and the rest of the offense.

"You've got to embrace the opportunity, embrace the challenge," van Riemsdyk said Friday before he played in a celebrity tennis exhibition at halftime of a Freedoms match. "And these are the kinds of things you live for as a competitor and an athlete, these kind of opportunities.

"It's up to the guys here to fill the void."

The second overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft saw his career chugging along slowly but surely, scoring 15 goals and tallying 20 assists in 2009-10 before he churned out 40 points on 21 goals and 19 assists last season. And he really picked up his play down the stretch.

In about a week, from the end of March to early April, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound left winger scored his first career hat trick against the New York Islanders and then a goal in consecutive games against the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers.

The playoffs started two weeks later, and van Riemsdyk was "feeling it."

"I just think my confidence started to build throughout the year," van Riemsdyk said. "And I learned a lot. . . . I think that confidence and that experience really just helped me in the playoffs take my game to that next level.

"There was more of an opportunity. I think we had some injuries there toward the stretch run, and I was able to get out on more special-teams situations. And that just helped grow my confidence even more, and the coach started to show some faith in me out there."