Photo Credit: Zack Hill
After yet another abysmal game, in which the Flyers were torched 6-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with the lightning coming off a back to back. Moreover, the Flyers faced a familiar foe with Brian Elliott between the pipes as Andre Vasilevski was given the night off after beating the Boston Bruins the night before 3-2 in overtime. At first the writing was on the wall for a Flyers victory, but like the previous seven games on this losing streak the Flyers lacked energy at times, and looked lethargic on the ice. When is enough, enough to pull the plug on this coaching staff?
“We are looking for solutions to our situation,” Flyers’ Head Coach Alain Vigneault said following this defeat. “We all have a job to do and need to get to work and do our part. The guy that is the leader of this group who has both his hands on the steering wheel is me and I have to find a way to get this group to play better. We are in a bad skid right now and we need to end this. We have an opportunity tomorrow night and hopefully we will play better.”
It appears people have heard the saying above before, and it seems like the same old song and dance. Vigneault is it likeable guy and treats others well, but the way the Flyers are losing is an embarrassment. Unfortunately, they are starting to lose like they did last season. Maybe a new coach or new coaching staff can invigorate life into this lineup.
After a season in which the Philadelphia Flyers performed well below their expectations change was something this club desperately needed. The Flyers were thought to be one of the top tier teams in the NHL prior to the beginning of last season. Unfortunately, it was anything but blissful, as the orange and black were one of the worst teams in hockey. General Manager Chuck Fletcher took a lot of blame for their bad play.
So much so, Fletcher added Ryan Ellis, Cam Atkinson, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nate Thompson, Keith Yandle, Martin Jones, and Derrick Brassard while subtracting, Jakub Voracek, Nolan Patrick, Philippe Myers, Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hagg. Significant changes were certainly achieved from management’s point of view. Which leads me to, when is enough-enough with Head Coach Alain Vigneault and his acclaimed staff of assistants? The question remains to be answered on whether or not these players are buying into their on-ice systems, which is needed to become a playoff team.
Vigneault’s first season with the club was a success, and the coach was a breath of fresh air for most Flyers fans. The Flyers played great hockey, and he came across as a personable coach. So it seems as though there is a tale of two different stories here in regards to Vigneault and his performance as the Flyers head coach so far given last season’s debacle.
As a result of such disparity between the team’s overall performance from season to season it makes it hard to predict when is the right time to move on from Vigneault and his acclaimed assistants. With so many new players learning a new system and a majority of them better fits than the players they are replacing, the Flyers should have been vastly improved. The Flyers schedule has been tough, and they are missing Kevin Hayes and Ryan Ellis. However, the orange and black are receiving great Goaltending and the defense for the most part is vastly improved, but they are still near the bottom in the division. No excuses this team lacks an identity, breakouts are bad, driving the play up the ice is an issue, and forechecking has been an issue. Some of these problems should have been corrected at Training Camp.
Fletcher has given Vigneault all the necessary tools to succeed. He has brought in multiple veteran options, changed the make-up of the roster this past offseason, and did not opt for the easy way out, instead he kept the all assistant coaches alike. It was now up to Vigneault and his staff to take the resources afforded to them by Fletcher and ultimately produce wins on the ice. However, that has not happened over the course of this past month consistently.
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There are no excuses for this bad play as of late. One of the problems during this eight game skid is the Power Play. It continues to be a thorn to the side of the Flyers. As it stands, they have the 30th worst Power Play in the league at a success rate of 13.4%.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were missing half their roster at one point, and are four points ahead of the Flyers. So when is enough-enough? When is the right time to make a move for Fletcher? It’s not panicking when some of these same problems still persist from 2020-21. Fletcher cannot sit and let these same problems persist. Does he change the coaching staff or even parts of it (Michel Therrien, Power Play Coach), or make a trade? Something has to give here before it’s too late this season.
Potential Replacements: Rick Tocchet, Claude Julien, John Tortorella, David Quinn, Mike Babcock
How many good coaches have to be fired before we realize the problem is the GM? The lack of creative playmaker and scorers on this team sans G has been problem for over a decade. Holmgren didn’t find any, Hextall held on to his over rated draft picks, and now Fletcher has failed also. Bad or wasted draft picks and free agent signings have killed this team. This team and organization need a deep cleaning beginning with the GM. The lack of talent on this team is obvious but we fool ourselves into thinking we have enough scoring because we started the season off ok. Maybe it was just the other teams were working out the kinks early on and/or getting key players back from injury. As lifelong diehard Flyers fan, I cannot watch the mucking and grinding anymore with 3rd and 4th line players on the top 2 lines. We need influx of offensive talent, skaters who can change the course of a game at any time.