Yes, it’s that time of year again.
The time of year that the Flyers fall into their seemingly annual 10 game losing streak. Philadelphia – who is now 7-10-5 on the season – have now fallen in at least 10 straight games for the third time in roughly a year with their latest loss to the Islanders this past Saturday night.
It’s a frustrating time to be a fan and to support the team, there’s no doubt about that. Fans are justifiably looking for blood again, but when we take a step back and think about it, though, what’s really changed between this season and last when it comes to how we view this roster? Could firing Chuck Fletcher do the trick?
It’s hard to believe that it would. Any general manager inheriting this current iteration of the Flyers would still be left with around 30 million of cap space tied up in injury reserve and that can’t be ignored. This is especially devastating to a Philly team that doesn’t possess a lot of depth to begin with. Even if the heir apparent to the Flyers’ General Manager seat is former fan favorite Danny Briere, the fans would quickly sour on him in this role as well if he were to take over tomorrow. The current roster is capped out and not good enough and while that does fall on the front office, their long term approach to roster-building seems to be in good shape at the moment with players like Tyson Foerster, Cutter Gauthier, Zayne Wisdom and Cam York in the pipeline.
The current front office regime is still trying to improve the overall talent of the roster and build a foundation. The decidedly best way to do that is through the NHL draft and unfortunately, that’ll take time. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the club is doing nothing; it also doesn’t mean they should get a free pass either. This approach doesn’t bear fruit immediately always, but it’s a necessary part of building a winning roster in a capped league. Sure, Fletcher and company could be ridiculed for a lack of creativity in trying to create the cap space needed to acquire Johnny Gaudreau, but that alone wasn’t going to yield the kind of results the team needed to start winning more. Check out where the Columbus Blue Jackets are currently to see if Gaudreau alone would have made a significant impact with the Flyers.
Head coach John Tortorella has – at the very least – helped give the team an identity again and standard level of play to aspire reaching. That’s a start. More evaluating of this front office and roster as they get healthier will be needed moving forward but making that decision right now doesn’t seem prudent with so many of the core pieces scattered around the roster. Doing so would only satisfy a temporary bloodlust the fanbase possesses right now due to the lack of results.
The Flyers are back in action Tuesday when they face the Islanders again at 7:30 on ESPN+. The begins a five-game homestand for the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.
