What to do? What to do? What to do? These thoughts have to be going through General Manager of the Flyers Chuck Fletcher’s mind night after night these past few months. Moreover, I’m pretty certain every Flyers fan and their mother is thinking the same thing now. The season has a feeling of “It’s all over duh-duh-duh-da-da-da. It’s all over”. Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers were really building something special here, and the hope was a parade down Broad Street in the coming years. And then boom the inconsistent Flyers returned, and have underperformed.
The Flyers have to keep their game simple and stop forcing the puck. They have to get off to faster starts, and it’s a must for a successful season. Yes, coming back from the pandemic was tough, and everyone knew it wasn’t going to be easy, however, every team was faced with the same situation. The Flyers need more muscle, and they need to start taking care of the puck.
Inconsistent
One thing that we have learned this past season is that the Flyers have remained an inconsistent hockey team and it started in the bubble. Some nights they started out great, and other times not so much. Just imagine if the Flyers haven’t received good Goaltending from Brian Elliott. I can only fathom how bad the Flyers would have be right now as they sit 15-11-3. It’s mind-boggling that year after year for the past eight seasons or so this very topic has to be discussed. How do the Flyers get off to faster starts? Why are they ill prepared to start the games? Who knows, right? The Flyers were 8-3 when they scored the first goal in the playoffs last year go figure.
For the last four to five years, maybe longer, the Flyers notoriously have come out flat, and behind the 8-ball in a lot of games. It appears they lack the urgency, and they play uninspired hockey for a period or two. This has resulted in them fighting for their playoff lives as their season is now on life support. Something has to give to fix the problem, and almost every player should be expendable at the trade deadline to start fixing this problem, minus the likes of Joel Farabee, Sean Couturier, Carter Hart, and Ivan Provorov.
Power Play
What more needs to be written about the inconsistencies with the man advantage. The Flyers cycle the puck well at times, but other times not so much. Finally, Michel Therrien put Couturier, Claude Giroux, and Jake Voracek back on the top unit, so hopefully this improves. Just shoot the puck and keep it simple.
Teams are sensing the extra pass, thus picking off the pass and clearing the puck out of the zone with no problem. The Flyers Power Play has simply not been good enough, and it is an area of concern as they sit with the 21st ranked PP with a 19.0% success rate. At the end of the season last year Chuck Fletcher stated, “You also have to be careful, it’s a small sample size. It’s obviously a critical sample size. We really could have used some power play goals. Then again, you go back certain times this year, you can find ten, fifteen games, where we were clicking. Why that is? That’ll be one of the questions we have to answer and certainly we’ll look hard at.”
There is absolutely no excuse for a lackluster power play for the second year in a row. The Flyers had the 14th best PP last season, and a team that was supposed to be a Stanley Cup contender should be better than this. If things do not improve as the season wears on, then Therrien should be terminated from his position.
The Defense
What Defense? The Flyers have been abysmal in coverage and breakdowns, asides from Justin Braun. Things are not good when Braun has been the steadiest Defensemen on this team. Ivan Provorov, Philippe Myers, Travis Sanheim, and Robert Hägg have regressed, and the Goaltenders have suffered from such. Bad turnovers at the blue line, trouble with breakouts, gap control has been a problem, and taking the body is non existent. Sanheim needs to be better with taking the body and fore checking properly, as does Myers with taking the body.
Alain Vigneault has called out Myers, Gustafsson, Ghost, and Hägg, but now it’s time to call out Provorov and Sanheim. Provorov lost his partner in Matt Niskanen…listen I get it, but Provorov should be better and he would tell you just that. Myers was benched for not taking the body, but Sanheim doesn’t do that either typically.
Shayne Gostisbehere started off strong, and has regressed in the past 10-12 games he played in defensively, even though he has scored goals (5). Ghost continues to make silly turnovers like Erik Gustafsson, and has breakdowns in coverage from pinching to assist offensively. Gustafsson and Nate Prosser have been brutal in their own right, but Prosser gets a pass in my opinion. Prosser has only played in six games, and wasn’t expected to play a single one before the season began. I will say Ghost has had more good games than Gustafsson, but still they are the same player.
In reality the defense shouldn’t be this bad with losing one player in Niskanen. They all need to improve, and hopefully something is in the works.
I hate picking on Prosser but these type of plays have happened all year to every Flyers defensemen over and over again:
Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom
Lindblom appears to be trending in the right direction after tallying two goals this past Thursday night, and having the guts to fight trying to inspire his team this past Saturday night in a 6-1 loss to the New York Islanders. The old Lindblom appears to be back, but Nolan Patrick remains a question mark.
Patrick has played well defensively, and is winning some puck battles, but hopefully he starts producing. I fault myself for getting fans hyped about Patrick and Lindblom before the season began. Lindblom appears to have gotten back to his old self, while Patrick has yet to find consistency.
The young Patrick started the season off great with 2g,3a through the first six games, but one thing I did not take into account was missing close to two seasons of hockey. Both of these fine young players should have been given adequate time to reestablish themselves, so let’s give them a full season before we make any unnecessary conclusions. I will say Patrick needs to get going sooner rather than later, as the Flyers are sinking rapidly in the standings.
Will
The Flyers appear lifeless at times, especially when things go South. Yes, they have overcome some deficits at times, for instance, down 3-0 to the Penguins, and 4-2 to the Rangers. However, the Flyers have gotten blasted three times by a score of 6-1, and once 9-0. This is just unacceptable for a team that was looking to take the next step this season.
They just sit back and take these defeats with showing little heart at times. Asides from Oskar Lindblom, no one has taken matters into their own ends trying to inspire the team. This has to change, and it starts with the locker room. I believe this is on the players, not Alain Vigneault.
Have I always agreed with Vigneault’s lineup decisions…no, especially with his usage of Ghost here as of late. However, this team is too darn talented to be this bad. The Flyers have switched coaches time and time again, it’s time for the players to take responsibility for once.
Kevin Hayes
Hayes has been inconsistent this year. We have seen flashes of the old Hayes from last year, but that has been written off over the course of the past few weeks. Hayes has been unnoticeable on the ice here lately, to which Flyers fans aren’t accustomed to this.
Even though, he has 21 points in 29 games this season he has taken a step back defensively, especially when Sean Couturier was injured. He missed assignments, and was just focusing on the offensive side of the puck, thus leading to odd man rushes the other way. Hayes has to be better, and he will tell just that. Hopefully he gets going here as he is very important to the overall success of the team, as the Flyers will have to claw and fight to get back into the playoff race.
Carter Hart
Carter Hart entered the 2020-21 season looking to recapture his great 2019-20 season. However, Hart has been anything but spectacular. Hart has been faced with a defense that looks lethargic and lost at times, sometimes non-existent. However, he does need to be better, and Hart knows it.
We have seen him uncharacteristically get beat over his glove hand side a lot lately. This is correctable, but due to the scheduling with the pandemic. He hasn’t had enough time to practice his craft with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh. So what everyone is seeing is a young 22-year-old fighting the puck during the game, rather than being composed between the pipes. He will get back to form, I’m confident with saying that, the only question that remains is will it be too little too late this season.
It’s been a weird year to say the least for Hart. This is not the best year for a young netminder on any team to struggle with the lack of practice time that teams have been given due to scheduling. Hart can and will play better, he is the franchise netminder of the Flyers for a reason. I am giving him a pass, as Brian Elliott has been phenomenal for the most part, and has been a fantastic tutor for the young Hart.
“Carter’s a very good young goaltender and he performed really well in the playoffs,” Fletcher said last year, “He performed well all year. I think at the beginning of the year, he struggled a little bit on the road, which I think is more of a fluke. Do I think there will be regression next year? No. He’ll probably have a more normal record on the road. He’s always played really well on the road at every level. If you look at what he’s been able to do, it’s a tough league for young players, never mind young goaltenders. He showed the ability to win games. He showed the ability to bounce back after tough performances, which you’re always looking for. Everybody is going to have tough nights from time to time. His ability to turn the page very quickly was impressive. Carter’s going to be a big part of it, as are a lot of our other young players. I think on the whole, you look back.”
What Should Fletcher Do?
Fletcher should approach this trade deadline with next year in mind. The Flyers are interested in obtaining the services of Mattias Ekholm, and regardless of how the team is playing. Fletcher should trade for him, and hopefully Ekholm could solidify the top-middle defensive pairings for this young Flyers team.
It appears Alain Vigneault wants the roster to be changed a bit, “If I could put a finger on it, I’d have fixed it already“, Vigneault said following Saturday night’s 6-1 defeat to the Islanders.
If Fletcher wants to obtain David Savard or Jamie Oleksiak, good do it, and hopefully either would re-sign with Philly in the offseason. His approach to this year’s trade deadline should not waver. If these players get traded they may re-sign or stay with the clubs they get traded to.
This team is far better than how they are currently playing. Hopefully the Flyers right the ship and make the playoffs, if not a major shake-up shall ensue in the offseason. I’m not going to back Alain Vigneault getting fired if things go south. This one is on the players, but Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo could bite the bullet on the coaching staff side of things.
Just imagine if Joel Farabee and James van Riemsdyk weren’t excelling this year
Both Farabee and JvR have been phenomenal this year. JvR has tallied 13 goals and chipped in 16 assists for 29 points. Farabee on the other hand is 21-years-old and has 13 goals, and 12 assists for 25 points in his Sophomore season.
These two players are bright spots for this Flyers team. Farabee might be the second coming of Simon Gagne (Hopefully). Just imagine if both players weren’t excelling, I hate the thoughts of that question. The line of JvR, Coots, and Farabee have been consistently good, so let’s hope Couturier doesn’t miss much time with his injury, as we should have the news later today on the availability of Couturier for tonight’s game.
In the end hopefully the Flyers right the ship, and make the playoffs. Anything but is an utter failure.
I remember Matt Niskanen in the playoffs last year.He acted like he couldn’t wait for them to be over.Zero effort.