As the regular season draws closer and closer to the end, the pressure continues to grow for our Philadelphia Flyers. With a record of 4-5-1 in their last 10 games played, fans are beginning to wonder if they will make it into the postseason this year. With some big pushes and possible roster additions, the future may be promising for the team.
The Flyers are currently fifth place in an eight-team division, trailing behind the Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Boston Bruins. These teams are no joke; they take every game as seriously as they can, and it shows in their records. The Flyers are, without a doubt, stuck in a slump recently. Falling to the New York Rangers 9-0 and 8-3 in just over a one-week span is not a good look for such a talented roster and experienced coach.
The goalie tandem of Carter Hart and Brian Elliott has been worrying recently, with Hart being a healthy scratch for two games this past week and the team allowing six or more goals in three of the past seven games. Ending the opposition’s chances to shoot and stopping the puck clearly did not come easy in the month of March. With a new month beginning, maybe the Flyers can clear the slate and put these losses behind them to push for some huge wins. This talented roster has the potential to be one of the best teams in the league.
Improvements on the power play and penalty kill have been evident which has shone some light on what they could look like at their full potential. If these trends continue, this team will prosper. Additions to the roster would only make this better.
On Saturday, General Manager Chuck Fletcher stated that Cameron York, the Flyers first-round draft pick in 2019, could be seeing some games soon with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and maybe even the Flyers.
Personally, I think that this is a great idea. Having had the pleasure to meet and talk with him at Trial on the Isle in 2019, I love his spirit and determination when it comes to the game of hockey. York is a kind, approachable person, and he’s an extremely talented defenseman. He also served as captain of Team USA in the 2021 World Junior Championship and led his team to a gold medal, with six points in the seven-game tournament. York is truly a gifted and skillful two-way defenseman with strong abilities to generate plays and stop the opposition from scoring. He would, without a doubt, be an incredible addition to a struggling Flyers team. I would love to finally see him in orange and black, doing his thing on the ice.
Tanner Laczynski, a center whom was drafted to the Flyers in 2016, will definitely be playing in some NHL games. He was added to the active roster on Saturday ahead of the away game against the Islanders. He will make his NHL debut and get to work trying to help out his team.
Wearing out young players and so-called “breaking them” in a rough season is a concern of many fans, myself included. Not everything has to be a bad idea, though, so these call-ups could end up being the best things to happen to this team in years.
The Flyers are certainly a team capable of a playoff run this season. Even if York does not see an NHL game in the Spring of 2021, they have enough other skaters and goalies to improve upon their mistakes and play to the best of their ability. They had a great run in 2020, and I fully believe they could pull that off again. The losses of Tyler Pitlick and Matt Niskanen since then stung hard, but the solid core of this team is more than capable of producing another good series or two.
With just 20 games left in the regular season, the Flyers face each Eastern team at least twice more each. This stretch may be rough, but staying optimistic about the team is the best thing to do. Last year proved to all of us that literally anything can happen at any time, so don’t give up hope yet.
