With the Flyers dropping yet another decision in Colorado on Tuesday night, we’ll break from our traditional plus/minus game reviews. Instead, a mid-season assessment seemed appropriate given the current state the Flyers are in now.
Let’s not bury the lead here; this season has been as rough as even the most pessimistic (or realistic) fan could have imagined and the losing, well, never gets easier to stomach. The Flyers have scored two or fewer goals 17 times through 30 games. They’re 9-14-7 overall and 2-11-5 in their last 18 contests.
If nothing else, though, the club works hard and competes for one another. That’s a testament to John Tortorella and his staff helping set a standard for the team to aspire to reach each night. With that, the team has seen Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes turn in strong offensive campaigns through 30 games.
Even with that standard and maximum effort each night, Philadelphia just doesn’t possess the talent right now to pull out more W’s. When tied after two periods of play, their record is a rather pedestrian 1-5-6 to date. They’ve yet to win a game in overtime this season, likely showcasing their shallow depth at forward and lack of game breaking talent when there is more ice to showcase that skill.
Between Carter Hart and Felix Sandstrom, the Flyers have received more than adequate goaltending this season, as the tandem has worked to compile a .925 save percentage at even strength. The run support has been minimal, however, as the team ranks 29th out of 32 teams in goals this year. Their special teams have teetered between bad and just okay at times as well.
And finally, there’s that front office, which we’ve discussed here on this very site in the past. Would removing Chuck Fletcher from the General Manager’s seat change the long-term outlook of the Franchise? Is Danny Briere, who long has been groomed to unseat Fletcher and a former fan favorite player, the right man of the job? Would he be able to change the narrative and help restore what Flyers hockey once was and represented?
NRD’s Cold Stove Podcast (@NHLRumorsDaily on twitter) has reported that change is likely inevitable in the Flyers front office and may come as soon as this year. Can we really expect that change to do anything except temporarily satisfy a bloodlust before the fans move onto their next scapegoat as the losses likely continue to pile up? Or is their simply no quick fix to Philadelphia’s current predicament, one that has the team capped out and not good enough, appears to only be solvable through the draft and unfortunately, that takes time as young players’ development is never a steady upward trajectory without peaks or valley’s.
No matter what path the franchise decides to take or what verbiage they decide to use to label their misfortune, (Rebuild vs. Retool, etc.) the rest of us need to focus on what they do, instead of what they say. The next few months will be critical to the long-term health of the franchise.
For now, the Flyers will try to get healthier as their currently missing Cam Atkinson, Sean Couturier, and Wade Allison. John Tortorella’s staff will continue to squeeze blood from the stone and push young players to be better like Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.
And then, like the Flyers, we’ll come back here and reassess what’s next.
