Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher that his state of the address yesterday, and he vowed to stay the course with the coaching staff which came as no surprise. If he was going to make a change with the coaching staff it would have happened on Monday, which would have been two days before the Flyers were scheduled play the New York Rangers and Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
“Look, we’re not where we want to be the last 10 games, the last six in particular,” Fletcher said. “We haven’t won. 2-6-2 in the last 10. There are parts of our game that have really taken a step backwards from the first 10. To me, those are two separate issues. There’s no question if Kevin Hayes can play tomorrow, he makes our team better. When Brassard gets back and Ellis gets back, they make our team better. Having said that, we need to play better with what we have, too. Everybody deals with injuries and illness, so we need to get better. I look at the first 10 games, we were 6-2-2. Goaltending was great. PK was good. Power play was 14th in the league, I think 21%. We weren’t perfect. We didn’t have the puck enough for me. We’re chasing a little bit that way, but we were defending well. Everything we talked about this summer, goaltending, defending, PK, competing, having the puck a little bit more. We were making progress in all those areas. The last ten, we slipped back. There’s no question. Now the onus is on our group to get it back. When injured players come back, it makes it easier. We can’t kid ourselves. We have to get better.”
The plan is to have Kevin Hayes back against the New York Rangers, but unfortunately Derick Brassard is day to day with a hip injury. Apparently broussard tweaked his hip again at practice yesterday, thus sidelining him tonight against the Rangers. Irregardless Fletcher knows the Flyers have to be better, and he vows that he’s coaching staff will right the ship and improving internally:
“I’d really like to see what we have before we start making changes. I don’t feel I’ve been able to see that to this point in time. We’re always looking. I’m talking to teams every day. If there’s ways to make us better, we’ll look at it. Right now, if you just look at how we played the first 10 games versus the last 10 games, clearly, one segment was way better than the other. We’ve shown the ability to play better than how we are right now. That’s the most important thing. We got to get back and get playing better. Then from there, we’ll get a sense of what we really are and then we can make those decisions.” – Chuck Fletcher
Fletcher continued, “I saw enough from the first 10 games to know that we can be a good team. A good team in a tough division that has a lot of work to do. The last 10, we haven’t played nearly as well. We have to improve internally. There’s a lot of areas we have to get better in. We’re working hard at it. This is a week that is a critical week for our team. We have a very tough game tomorrow, but we get a couple of days off and we get three practice days. We get all kinds of time for video, and all kinds of time for guys to rest. We get a chance to integrate Hayes and possibly Brassard during this time. To me, this is a massive week to get our house in order and to push back because it’s five and seven next week. The games are coming fast and furious and we’re going to have to be a lot better. Clearly, we have to get better, and we have to start winning games. That’s just where our focus is. You feel responsible for everything, and you want to look for solutions. I do know right now; I truly believe our best hope for a quick turnaround is by internal improvement, by getting some guys back but also by having our guys that are here play better.”
There are no excuses for the type of play the Flyers are enduring, NONE. They have to play better, and they have to play better for the fans, to which Fletcher was asked that question by NBCSN reporter Jordan Hall yesterday during the Fletcher presser:
‘We are what we are right now. We got to get better. We recognize that. Nobody recognizes it more than we do. The coaches were here all day yesterday, looking at the power play and looking at how we can have the puck more often, our entries, our forecheck. We’re looking at everything every day or line combinations, practice, load management, everything. We’re looking at everything every day. I saw the energy in the group today and that’s what still gives me hope. I’ve been doing this 30 years. You can see when players are frustrated and lack confidence and you can see when players don’t believe. There’s a big difference. We still believe. We got a lot of work to do and that’s our mindset is at.” – Chuck Fletcher
What will happen next is anyone’s guess, but the Flyers are in desperate need of a victory. Let’s hope the Flyers come out victorious against the New York Rangers tonight.
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