Photo Credit: Our very own Conor Doherty
As Flyers followers and faithful, we all take part in dissecting and reassembling the teams in our mind, year after year, team after team. We strive to find the right equation for play and post season success to both brag to our friends that “we were right!” and with the dream of one day seeing the Orange and Black once again parade down Broad Street.
On the morning of opening night, I do not believe it is any player, coach, or staff member that holds the missing piece to the team returning to the Eastern Conference powerhouse they used to be. It is not solely on the play of our Captain, who IS one of the greatest athletes in Philly sports history, or play of a new acquisition. It is not the tactics from the coach, or the emergence of a young gun. It is not on the Flyers 23-year-old goaltender. This season, above all, the Flyers must find and redefine their identity within this league.
April 11, 2016 is one of the most important dates in Flyers (and Philadelphia) history, whether you realize it or not. It wasn’t an iconic victory or a playoff clinching night. It was the day Ed Snider died and, along with him, the Flyers identity that they had held dear for 40 years. The conglomerate of ownership that followed his death was not able to capture the aura of the franchise and our decline began. We have to come to terms with the fact that the “Broad Street Bullies” are not our identity anymore. While that moniker is an iconic part of our past, if we want to win, we must move on.
Now with that said, as someone who grew up idolizing the Orange and Black, the Gritty (no pun intended), and hard-working attitude that has defined Philadelphia from its inception must stay. We have to reflect on our past in order to look to our future, but the true focus needs to be on the now.
What will opposing teams say about the Flyers as a team after each game? (We already know what they say about us as fans.) Did they have to earn every goal? Was it a battle? Was the team relentless? The New York Islanders are the only team in the Metropolitan Division that can say yes to the above over the past few seasons.
It’s time for the Flyers to reclaim and redefine “toughness” in mind, play, and mission for the NHL.
What do I mean by this? Let me back it up with some stats:
The Flyers have ranked 12th in the league in shots blocked since Ed Snider died (last season they ranked 24th), the ten years prior to his death they ranked 3rd.
The Flyers have ranked 14th in the league in hits since Ed Snider died (last season they ranked 19th), the ten years prior to his death they ranked 9th.
The Flyers have ranked 28th in the league in takeaways since Ed Snider died (last season they ranked 24th), the ten years prior to his death they ranked 24th.
The Flyers have ranked 25th in the league with wins after scoring first since Ed Snider died (last season they ranked 23rd), the ten years prior to his death they ranked 19th.
The Flyers have ranked 15th in Goals for and 7th in goals against since Ed Snider died (last season they ranked 15th and 1st, a league worst, respectfully) In the ten years prior to his death the Flyers ranked 4th in goals for and 15th in goals against.
By comparison, the Islanders were a top-10 team in four of the above six stats this past season and the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning were top-10 in five of the six.
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While the stats above are in no way the be-all-end-all keys to winning in the NHL-they do represent something else-toughness. It’s something we have been missing from our game since Ed Snider passed and it’s something the Flyers need to find again.
They have the right players, they have the right coach. The Flyers must rediscover their identity this season if they want to reclaim the right path.
