It’s Time For A Culture Change In Philadelphia

Photo Credit: Zack Hill

It’s time for a change of culture in the city of Philadelphia. The Flyers, who are an NHL team that play in Philadelphia, are currently in second place in the Metropolitan division at the moment (Depending on the outcome of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Anaheim Ducks). They sit just three points out of first place. It seems, however, that many Philadelphian’s seem to ignore the success the Flyers have had over the past months, often citing lack of recent success and years of wasted potential as their reason to forget the team. While it may be true that the on ice product has not been good the past couple of years, this is a new team. The Sixers were similarly atrocious for many years, and are still going through their growing pains much like the Flyers. Yet fans seem to be more lenient with the team on the hardwood, who recently suffered a loss to the 17-41 Cleveland Cavaliers. The city is struggling to embrace this new Flyers team, and it’s dividing the fan base. This new core will be around for a while, so fans need to learn to love our team of goofs. 

The main challenge for Hockey fans in Philadelphia is to understand that this team is different than old teams. There are no gaping holes like the undrafted-free-agent ridden teams of the Hextall era. The question mark at coaching has been addressed, and Alain Vigneualt has done an incredible job with this group. Claude Giroux is a solid leader, and he finally has tools around him like 1C Sean Couturier and minute muncher Ivan Provorov. This team is built to win hockey games now, rather than later. With the average age of this team sitting at 27 years old, the window for competition seems to be opening right before our eyes. With young players like Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, and solid goaltending in Carter Hart and Brian Elliot, what is keeping pessimistic fans from seeing the light side? 

One of the main reasons these fans are disinterested stems from the lack of a “big name” goal scorer. Many longtime fans have jumped ship due to the quote, “lack of goal scoring,” on the team. These fans were disappointed as they felt general manager Chuck Fletcher did not do a satisfactory job addressing this at the 2020 trade deadline.  One would think that after the 2018 addition of James van Reimsdyk, who had scored 36 goals the season before his signing, would be enough to quell fans lust for pure goal scoring talent. Unfortunately, due to injury, JvR missed some time in the 2018-19 season and seems to have fallen out of favor with many of the fans who cheered his signing. Even his solid play on both ends of the ice this season has not mended that relationship. One would think the emergence of Travis Konecny, who currently has 22 goals in 60 games, would be enough to satisfy at least a chunk of their yearning, but it seems that he is not enough. Flyers fans need to change their minds, and understand that the player they are looking for is Alex Ovechkin, and players like him do not come around very often. The orange and black have multiple players that are satisfactory goal scorers, and fans need to start appreciating them. Players like JvR, Voracek, and Giroux get slandered by many fans despite their passionate efforts in and out every night. Each and every player on this team has taken a step forward from last year, and their work is starting to show in the win column.

The fans need to unite around these players during the playoff push and subsequent playoffs, as this team has a chance to win now. It’s time for a culture change in Philadelphia, and it’s time for the fans to come back and be optimistic for the future.