Grading The Philadelphia Flyers At The Bye Week
The league is testing out a new thing this year where every team has a mandated 5-days off in the middle of the season. If it were up to Ron Hextall, he’d beat the shit out of whoever came up with that idea because he hates it and I think his exact word for the bye week was “asinine”. But if you’re a fan of the Flyers, this break couldn’t have come soon enough. In fact, I’m kind of hoping this bye week can just last the rest of the season due to the way this team has been playing since the holidays. Since the Flyers’ 10-game win streak ended in Dallas on December 17, the Flyers have been 3-8-3. And after keeping pace with the Metro for a few weeks, here’s how the playoff picture looks today.
Sure. If the NHL Playoffs started this morning, the Flyers would be playing the Capitals in the 1st round again. But after separating themselves from the pack, they have let that 10-game win streak go to complete waste and you have to imagine they won’t be in that 2nd wild card spot by the time their bye week is over. And here’s the thing. It’s January 16th. There are still nearly 3 full months of hockey to be played. The Flyers still have 36 games left on the season. They were buried in the playoff picture at this point last season. So losing their playoff spot at the moment isn’t what is cause for concern for this team. But it’s the way that they’ve been losing games lately.
Yesterday’s loss in Washington was about as gutless of a loss as I’ve seen in a while. The Flyers came out in the 1st period and outplayed the Caps. The period ended scoreless but it was still a strong start for the tail end of a back-to-back on the road. Then they came out and played well again in the 2nd period. Going 0/4 on the powerplay isn’t great but they were still putting together a nice little game. And then this turnover from Michael Del Zotto led to an Andre Burakovsky goal.
And the Flyers just gave up. They went into the locker room after the 2nd period down 1-0 and they simply gave up. It looked as if 95% of the Flyers were checked out and heading to Aruba by 2:30pm yesterday. The fact that they didn’t have any fight in them is troubling. The fact that nobody stood up and tired to stop the bleeding was disgusting. This team lacks leadership. They lack an identity. And they are in serious need of a shake up during this week. Whether that’s through a trade, or calling up a young guy, I’m not really sure. But it’s clearly evident that this team they way they are right now is not working. From the top down to the bottom, nobody in this organization is doing their job at the moment. Hextall, Hakstol, Giroux, Gostisbehere, Mason. I’d say Wayne Simmonds is the only guy within this organization right now that actually shows that he cares out there. The other guys can say that they care all they want, but they’re doing a shit job at proving it. So let’s break the Flyers down piece by piece real quick to come up with a grade.
The Offense
The Flyers are a top 10 team in Goals For so far this season. Voracek is leading the pace with 41 points on the season. Giroux at 38, Simmonds with 34 and Brayden Schenn has 30. That’s 4 guys on the roster with at least 30 points before the All Star Break. That’s not too bad. But when you factor in that a majority of those points come on the powerplay, you can see why this team is struggling so much lately. Even if Mason gave up just 1 goal yesterday, the Flyers still would have lost because when they can’t score on the powerplay, they can’t score 5v5 either. And I know this is the easy route to take but much of that blame has to go on Claude Giroux and the top line. Because I honestly can’t remember the last time the Flyers won due to the fact that Giroux’s line completely took over and changed the game. If anything, lately, it’s been the other way around where Giroux’s line gets dominated at 5v5 because they are so bad in the defensive zone. No matter what the line combinations are. Whether he has Voracek out there with him or not, the Flyers top line just hasn’t been able to take over games so far. Even during the win streak, they would win games because the powerplay was on fire or because Mason would make 53 saves a game.
It’s clear that this team needs to add another dynamic goal scoring winger to the mix. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that and obviously adding another dynamic goal scoring winger could help out the other 29 teams in the league as well. But it’s a dire need for the Flyers right now. Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Couturier and Konecny all make for a nice top 5. But other than Simmonds, I don’t see any of them as a pure goal scorer. They’re all guys who can do it all, but the Flyers are in serious need of someone right now who can just bury the puck on 5v5 situations. Where that player comes from, whether via trade or what have you, I’m not sure. But that’s why Ron Hextall is the General Manager of this team and I’m not. But until the top 2 lines can prove that they have the ability to take over games, you’re gonna keep seeing Bellemare and VandeVelde get regular shifts out there because nobody has earned the right to take those minutes away from them yet.
5v5 grade out of 3 — 1.4
Powerplay grade out of 1 — 0.7 (yesterday sucked but their powerplay still fucks).
Final Offense Score: 2.1/4
The Defense
I honestly don’t even want to talk about this group right now but I guess it’s sort of my job to do so. I’m at at point with this team right now where I’m consistently whispering the names Travis Sanheim, Sam Morin and Philippe Myers to myself. So much so that people in public are looking at me like I’m some deranged lunatic with a hit list or something. But this group is BAD. As bad as bad gets. You don’t give up 11 goals in one weekend with a strong defensive unit. Regardless of how Mason and Neuvirth play in net, you don’t give up fucking ELEVEN goals in 48 hours if your blueline has any semblance of an NHL-caliber blue line.
And the thing that really pisses me off about this group isn’t the talent level. We all knew heading into this season that the Flyers would still be light on the blueline. But it’s their effort. The Flyers play a slow, lazy game defensively that leads to too many mental lapses and bad penalties. Think about it. Almost any time the Flyers give up an odd-man rush, they end up in the box because they get beat defensively and then compound that mistake by taking a lazy high stick or hooking penalty trying to get back. And just like the forwards, it’s top to bottom with this group. It’s not like Shayne Gostisbehere has been playing so well this year that he’s earned himself immunity from getting scratched. Are there better options for healthy scratches in this lineup? Yes. Andrew MacDonald shouldn’t be playing on a nightly basis. Brandon Manning shouldn’t be playing on a nightly basis. Michael Del Zotto’s play has been subpar all season so far. All of those guys theoretically should be scratched before Shayne Gostisbehere. But that’s his own fault for playing so poorly lately that he’s even an option to get scratched. Oh, and Mark Streit is too slow for the NHL these days. I love the guy but it’s true.
It’ll be a different story next season when Provorov can play with Sanheim without having to log 20 minutes a night with Andrew MacDonald dragging him down. It’ll be a different story next season when maybe you can throw Ghost out there with Gudas and put Morin out with whoever else steps up. But that’s just not the case this year and the blueline is severely dragging down the play of the rest of the team right now.
Final Defense Score: 1.2/3
The Goalies
Jesus fucking Christ, boys. How many chances do you need? Not to be perfectly fair, this is why the 1A 1B goalie situation never ever ever ever works. It’s just not possible for that to go well. If you have 2 starting goalies, you have none. And don’t get me wrong. I know what Steve Mason is capable of. We all saw it during the Flyers 10-game win streak. He’s a very good goalie who has the ability to make some very big time saves. With that being said, he has the mental fortitude of a mouse and as soon as shit starts going downhill for him, he Hiroshima’s himself. Steve Mason is a very good goalie who shows glimmers of hope toward becoming a great goalie. But the fact of the matter is that he’s just not. He’s a a really nice guy who stands in net and same goes for Michal Neuvirth, who let’s every opportunity to take over the net for the Flyers fall through his fingers. At this point, I don’t know what the Flyers can possibly do. I’d love for Stolarz to get called up but what do you do with these two idiots? Their trade value might haul in a skate sharpener from the ECHL. Do you try to package them into a deal for somebody? And risk giving up a young talented prospect just to get rid of one of these guys before they walk away in free agency? Or do you just suck it up, realize the Flyers weren’t going to win a Cup this year anyway, and make a play for Ben Bishop on a 2-year deal in the summer while Stolarz comes up as the full-time backup? The possibilities are endless, but none of them are great.
Final Goaltending Score: 1/2 (still giving Mason some credit here for the win streak)
Coaching
X’s and O’s, I like Dave Hakstol. I think he has a good system that we saw the Flyers buy into during their late season playoff push last year. However, he does seem to have a bizarre sense of player evaluation right now. Why does Chris VandeVelde get regular minutes every single night? Why does he continue to throw Provorov out there with MacDonald? Why does he continuously overuse Mason and give him starts that anybody else with half a brain realizes isn’t going to go well? Granted, I understand that he doesn’t have a ton of other options. But he’s made some very questionable personnel decisions this year that has drawn plenty of justified criticism. Do I think he deserves to be fired over them? No. No I do not. But there are some serious changes that need to be made to this lineup and I hope he takes a step back this week and realizes that.
And as far as the benching of Ghost and Konecny go, I agree with his decisions there. These are young kids who are in the longterm plan for this organization. Dave Hakstol was a tremendous coach at North Dakota. If there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s develop young talent. I have to imagine that was a major reason why he was hired. Everybody is so concerned that benching Gostisbehere is going to mess with his head and have him constantly worried about making a mistake out there that will land him in the press box. But he’s a professional athlete. He’s not some little kid who needs to be coddled and told “good job out there, pal!” every time he steps off the ice. He can take these scratchings the right way or the wrong way. If he takes them the wrong way, then he’s not fit to be a professional hockey player. Something tells me Ghost will use these learning experiences to turn his game back around and he’ll be playing 82 games next season barring any injury.
Final Coaching Score: .65/1
So that leaves us with a final score for this Flyers team right now at 4.95/10. Which seems more than fair given the way this team has been playing lately. Sure, those scores were just about as arbitrary as a balding middle aged man scoring a slice of pizza. But I think 4.95 is spot on. Again, there are some serious shake ups that need to happen with this team for the remaining 36 games of the season. Like I said, they were in way worse position at this point of the season last year as they are today. There is still plenty of time for them to turn things around. But it’s not going to happen by just saying “we have to turn it around”. There needs to be a move or two made within the next few weeks whether it be a trade or a call up. But the lineup their working with right now just isn’t going to cut it. Especially not coming off a bye week and right into another Saturday/Sunday back-to-back. Real great scheduling on that one, NHL.
P.S. – I think the only feasible solution for the Flyers right now is to have a montage. I’m talking a real good 3-minute long montage. We’re talking a Rocky IV level montage right now. Because if there’s one thing in this world that can take you from a zero to a hero in 180 seconds, it’s a montage.