Photo Credit: Zack Hill
As I write this article, the Flyers currently sit as the 5th worst team in the Eastern Conference. Yes it is embarrassing, it is somewhat of a shocker. It’s not a shocker that they are not a Stanley Cup contender, rather that they are having trouble scoring goals, and are playing unspirited hockey for the most part.
Regardless of injuries to Ryan Ellis or Kevin Hayes throughout a large portion of the season. Having them in the lineup wouldn’t have done much to improve upon their record. They are what they are, and that is a team that lacks an identity.
Breakouts, puck support-to include puck support from the Forwards, and a lack of energy continue to be problems on a nightly basis. These are all major factors into the lack of identity for this current Flyers team, which is having trouble scoring. They are currently averaging 1.67 goals per game since October 30. A team just isn’t going to win many hockey games with scoring less than two goals per game on a nightly basis.
To make matters worse, the Flyers own the 30th worst power play in the league, with a success rate of 12.5%, while Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher backs his staff:
“It’s interesting. We haven’t had a good power play since ’14-‘15. That’s the last time. I think it’s six years, seven years. We’ve had a couple of 14th place finishes, 17th, 18th and 24th. We were 14th in the first 10 games. We were 29th in the last 10 games. Power play since I’ve been here has been an everyday question and clearly going back to ’14-’15, it has been an everyday question here. It’s something personally, I think that way too much blame or even credit gets attached to the power play coach. I think there’s certainly things we can do. When I look at our power play right now, the biggest thing to me is just our entries. We’re really having a hard time entering. I think in-zone, we need to shoot the puck more. There are certain things we need to do, but when you can’t enter and successfully set up, you can’t shoot the puck because you’re not in there. We’re spending a lot of our power play going back retrieving pucks and coming down. The biggest thing to me that we have to fix right now, coaching is a part of it. A lot of it is execution and mindset. We have to find a way to enter the zone more successfully. That’s clearly something that’s dropped off for me the last year or two. In-zone, there’s up and down. I don’t think we’re getting enough shots, but yet the first 10 to me, there were signs of good things happening. In the last 10, nothing’s happening. We got to get it going. Again, it’s been an issue since I’ve been here every day, the power play. We talk about it internally. You guys ask about it. It’s spent seven years, so it’s something that probably goes above and beyond the coaching.” – Chuck Fletcher
Under Fletcher’s regime the power play has gotten worse each year, but to throw shade at the previous regime “The Power Play wasn’t good when I got here,” seems like a deflection, a bad deflection. Even if his comments were true, which they are not as the Flyers power play sat in the middle of the pack during the Ron Hextall regime for the most part. It doesn’t justify why the power play is this bad in a season in which there was supposed to be a major turnaround in the standings. This was supposed to be a rebound season, not a rebuild season from last year’s debacle.
The only thing that has remained consistent throughout the course of this season is the Goaltending. Carter Hart is enduring a big rebound season, and Martin Jones has played well to support him. Both goaltenders has played very well, given the unfortunate circumstances of this team lacking an identity. It is now time for Fletcher to act, to not let this season continue to slip away, especially with the quality of goaltending this team has received on a nightly basis. ‘
Flyers fans have been patient enough through seemingly a rebuild since 2014. They have every right to be impatient, and they deserve better.
