The majority of hockey enthusiasts throughout the World are hoping for the season to reconvene at some point. Talks throughout the league continue to ensue weekly, with the NHLPA and NHL working together, hand-in-hand to see that this happens. The NHLPA BOG voted yes to a 24 team playoff format, that consists of the top 4 teams in each conference to play a best of five series against each other for seeding purposes, followed by the 8 extra teams (Making 24 teams total) would also play a best of five series with the winners of course advancing to a 16 team play-in playoffs.
Fortunately, the 24 NHL team format will include a best of 5 series for Qualifying rounds (Only), and the Round Robin (Top 4 teams in the Conferences) will be a one game playoff. All four rounds of the Playoffs (Play-In) will be best of 7’s, with reseeding after each round, highest seed vs lowest seed in each conference. I just want to add that the Flyers can move up from the 4th seed to the first seed in the Eastern Conference. Since hockey is on the verge of returning, with the plan of moving into Phase 3 on July 10, how does this current Flyers team compare to the 2009-10 magical team in one critical area…Goaltending? Also, what will Head Coach Alain Vigneault’s new signature line be, or will it remain the same “Be a f….ing Flyer?”
The 2009-10 Flyers season was filled with luck, clutch scoring, and decent Goaltending (Except for Patrick Kane’s game winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals against Michael Leighton, with Brian Boucher on the shelf with an injury). For the season, the Flyers used five Goaltenders, registered a 2.64 GAA, and were 19th in Save Percentage with a .907%. Moreover, the Flyers were 15th in goals against with 222 goals allowed. The Goaltending position was about average for the season and playoffs for that matter. Boucher was a goalie that could be relied upon in big situations, and would really step up when need be. One question remains would a healthy Boucher lift the Flyers to a game 6 victory in the Cup Finals? The true answer is no one will ever know, I mean shoot I still don’t know how Kane’s shot went into the net.
Fast forward to the 2019-20 season. The Flyers finished second in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points. Before the Coronavirus halted the season, this young Flyers team was transformed into a Cup contender, just one year following a season of turmoil. Former General Manager Ron Hextall was fired, Former Head Coach Dave Hakstol was fired, and a new Head Coaching regime took over at the helm, as well as, a brand new General Manager in Chuck Fletcher.
One underrated signing by Fletcher this past offseason was the re-signing of Brian Elliott. Elliott played well when Carter Hart was injured, and really has developed a good relationship with Hart, “Moose has helped me out a lot,” Hart said to me in February, “We have a good relationship, and we root for each other.”
This is the part where the 2019-20 Flyers team is better than the 2009-10 Flyers team…Goaltending, with a Hart/Elliott tandem. The Hart/Elliott tandem had the 8th best GAA at 2.65, finished tied for the 8th fewest goals against with 197 goals allowed, and finished with the 17th best Save Percentage of .903%. Lyon also played in three games, and managed a 3.50 GAA.
With a healthy Hart, this young Flyers team will be a tough team to eliminate out of the playoffs. Hart finished the 2019-20 season with a 24-13-3 record, 2.42 GAA, and a .914 Save Percentage at just the ripe age of 21. There is just no reason to believe he cannot carry this Flyers team to an extended playoff run. Hart has played on the big stage for Team Canada, and wearing the colors of Canada is no easy task. There is a ton of pressure to succeed while representing the great nation of Canada (AKA the Motherland of hockey). For these reasons, a Hart/Elliott tandem is better than a Boucher/Leighton tandem, that’s for sure.
Fletcher also started with hiring a Veteran Head Coach in Alain Vigneault, and in my opinion this was the most important signing in the offseason. Coaching does wonders in sports, and it did just that for the Flyers. For instance, look at what Barry Trotz has done with the John Tavares less New York Islanders. Of course, Fletcher nailed the signing of Kevin Hayes, trades for Matt Niskanen, Tyler Pitlick, Derek Grant, Nate Thompson, and Justin Braun. What Fletcher did was make this locker room more vibrant and fresh again, but it all started with the glue piece of Vigneault.
It really shouldn’t come as a shock that Vigneault had this team rocking and rolling, pretty much from the first drop of the puck in Prague against the Chicago Blackhawks. AV is a great coach, who coached JVR and Jakub Voracek well. Vigneault was a no non sense type coach, but had a great relationship with the players because he communicates well with them. In reality, the fans loved Vigneault because of his personality, for in stance the Martini jokes. However, he will be remembered for a great slogan from last year’s training camp “Be a f….ing Flyer.” There is no better saying, and this will (Hopefully) be taught again during the three weeks of training camp that are supposed to start ensuing on July 10. This Flyers team is a good one folks, and watch out come playoff time. I will leave you with a video from last years training camp:
