This has obviously been a tough year for the Flyers, I wanna see some fight here in the last 13 games. I’ve done a game review for all 43 games thus far, and I plan on finishing up the rest of the season.
However, I wanna share some thoughts. From the very first game of the year, I was thinking to myself: “I can’t see this team being bad”. Obviously, it took a few games to see their potential, as they started to play better, then they were hit with COVID for two weeks (not an excuse, I’m just saying). Unfortunately, the wheels fell off from there. I’ve watched this team religiously for eight years (since the 2012-13 season), and the month of March 2021 was some of the WORST hockey I’ve seen since the 2014-15 season when I had partial season tickets with my Dad.
I think a lot of the issues are obviously the play on the ice. The amount of times I’ve talked to Flyers Nitty Gritty’s Yariv Wolok, we’ve both said “It’s the same goals every game” it’s absolutely astonishing. It’s the same system as last year, I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t now. There are some people placing blame on the goalies, but when you are down and out like this, I don’t blame the goalie every time.
Now, obviously not every goal is the Defensemen’s fault, or just the Goalie’s. However, I think a lot of people have been too hard on Carter Hart or Brian Elliott this year when they have many, many, many defensive structure and puck management issues. Most of the goals against have at least one or two plays where it could have been cleared, or the goal could have been erased with unforced turnovers. Last year, the Flyers had the same Defensive pairings for majority of the year, unless there was injury involved:
Ivan Provorov-Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim-Philippe Myers
Justin Braun-Robert Hägg
This year though, Provorov has played with Braun, Shayne Gostisbehere, Myers, and Sanheim.
Erik Gustafsson obviously didn’t work, Hägg didn’t look great, got injured, and has looked good in his last few games since coming back from injury, and Myers & Sanheim have taken a step back defensively.
These are just two examples of Sanheim-Myers getting beat in front of the net, or playing off the puck too much, not using their size to their advantage.
Sanheim listed at – 6’3
Myers listed at – 6’5
It’s not just them, though. The slot has been one area of the ice that has been what seems like forgot about at times. Especially on the Penalty Kill (PK), which took a significant drop from last season. Obviously, some of these are similar to what I said previously, but you get my point. A lot of these goals against are self-inflicted since you take the penalty, which they’ve had a lot of guys take unnecessary ones this year, Nicolas Aube-Kubel is a perfect example of such.
It seems like the PK is really laid back this year. Last year they gave teams little time & space to work with. This year I’ve seen some of that, but not enough. Consistency is key with special teams and when you give teams shot-after-shot and lots of room to work down low. They will score on you, and the Flyers have been exposed in that area many times. As for the Power Play (PP) oh boy, I think the PP could have its own thread. However, I’ll say this, I see all these other teams PP’s like Boston and Washington, and even Pittsburgh. How amazing it is to see them pass the puck around and fire from all cylinders. BOS & WSH have similar setups, with Alex Ovechkin/David Pastrnak-Patrice Bergeron/TJ Oshie for the circle one-timer, or bumper play.
The Flyers have part of that. Claude Giroux (G) at his spot I love on the left side, but I just wish he would shoot more from there. He has a good one timer and wrist shot. The bumper play hasn’t worked it seems like since Scott Hartnell left. Brayden Schenn was there a bit if I remember, as well as, the slot, Sean Couturier (Coots), Joel Farabee, and I remember Travis Konecny (TK) being there for a bit as well at times. I would like to see a guy like Jake Voracek there. He can shoot the puck, and is physical.
This is my dream PP:
If they try to open up the seam-pass more (which has looked great when successfully completed in recent years with Wayne Simmonds) then you could switch Coots/Jake. I just wanna see G or Coots creep low and hit someone in the slot for a one timer. TK would be a great option here if you ran the PP from the other side, or if Coots or Jake crept low and hit TK for a one timer, that would be fun too watch. Remember when I said Bergeron & Oshie? Both right-handed players that possess good one timers in the slot.
Ghost at the point is a must at this point for me. Let him fire away. He’s been the really only successful Defenseman on the PP this year in my opinion.
To finish this article off, let’s tackle the forecheck: The Flyers have some great games where they looked really efficient on the forecheck, others…not so much.
I’ve seen a lot of easy outs for teams this year versus the Flyers. The last game against Washington was a prime example. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Caps are a very good team on the forecheck, but sometimes it just looks way too easy. Here’s a video:
This has been an issue all year, and it’s the reason they’ve given up many quality chances off the rush, and have allowed 27 goals off the rush when Chuck Fletcher spoke to the media this past week. Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault talked about defending better off the rush on their three game skid vs Pittsburgh in the beginning of March, essentially that’s when the wheels fell off the bus.
That’s it for me here. If you’ve come this far, thank you.
