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While most fans were elated to see the Orange and Black beat their rival the New York Rangers in a shootout this past Sunday., the ones in the know were left saying “it’s about time!” It took the Flyers 69 games into the current season for them to pull out their first win (out of five chances) in a shootout. That’s only a .20% win percentage on the season when Philadelphia has been unable to score in overtime and thus be forced into a shootout.
But while some would simply brush it off or chalk it up to an isolated predicament during a season where the team has seen more than it’s far share of injuries, I am here to assure you it is not! Since shootouts were implemented into the way an NHL game is to be played- back in the start of the 2005-2006 season- it has had a crippling effect on the Flyers’ ability to win games that take more than 60 minutes to determine a winner.
So much so that, since being implemented, the Flyers are statistically the worst team in the entire league when it comes to their performance in a shootout. Over the course of it’s now 17 years of existence, the Flyers have had 150 contests which have resulted in a shootout to determine a winner. Out of those 150 games, they have only managed to come out victorious 54 of those times which means they lost an incredible 96 of those games. That means- since it’s induction- the Flyers have only managed to win 36% of their games that have gone to a shootout.
https://records.nhl.com/records/team-records/shootouts/best-shootout-winning-pctg-all-time
Still not seeing the need for the Flyers to address this issue? Well, allow me to present some more eye-popping evidence to further convince you of the need: On average, the Flyers have had roughly nine games a season come down to a shootout. That’s 10% of the games that they play in a single season. So, keeping with the statistics, out of those nine games every season the Flyers are lucky if they win three of those. Unfortunately, if you’re trying to build a winning franchise, that kind of winning percentage (or lack thereof) is simply unacceptable.
What is the cause of this? Since it’s induction, the Flyers have never found it to be that big of a necessity to go out and sign someone who excels when asked to perform in a shootout, like Artemi Panarin does who has scored 59.3% of the times he’s been asked to go one-on-one versus the goalie. And they’ve never felt the need to draft a dangler like Trevor Zegras of Anaheim who has managed to score 58.3% of the times asked to head to center ice in a shootout.
Instead, they put their trust into Claude Giroux for so many years who, although he has scored 30 goals during a shootout in his career, he has been asked 103 times- which means he was only effective 29.1% of the time. While the ability to score in a shootout is important, what should be considered more imperative is having a goalie that can manage to stop the breakaways as well. While one of the best in the business at this is Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy who holds a career .785% save percentage in these events, the Flyers have inked Carter Hart to be their future in net whose career save percentage in a shootout is only .696%. Do you see the difference here? The only reason the Flyers won against the Rangers at all in this joust of sorts is that backup goaltender Martin Jones (who is currently ranked 3rd in active goaltenders in save percentage in a shootout) was in net Sunday.
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In saying that, the Flyers need to begin to look deeper into players’ stats so that they can fill roster spots with certain players who excel in the shootout so that they can call upon them when the situation arises. This type of player doesn’t always have to be an elite sniper during five on five play who gets paid an exorbitant amount of money each season. Heck, Christian Dvorak is a third-line center right now for the Montreal Canadians and he has scored an astonishing 60% of the times that he’s been asked to line up in the shootout. Or for that matter, it doesn’t even have to be a forward that the Flyers sign or draft who could be their secret weapon in a duel with the goalie: Vegas has a defenseman by the name of Shea Theodore who holds a 57.1% scoring percentage in the shootout. My point is, there’s options if you simply dig a little deeper when deciding the players who are to make up your roster.
Like them or not, shootouts appear as though they are here to stay. They are and have been for some time now a fascinating way for teams to win games. The Flyers have yet to really accept and/or utilize shootouts as a tool where they can employ a specialist just for these occasions. If management were to take the time to make sure their club has someone that can perform these tasks in the future, it would undoubtedly be a way to ensure their club a few more wins every season. Doing this in a division that has as many competitive teams as the Metropolitan Division could mean the difference between the Flyers earning a playoff spot in the future or them dusting off the golf clubs early yet again.
