After another attempt at playing a hockey game last night in Detroit, the Philadelphia Flyers slumped to their 9th straight defeat, and questions continue to be posed on what this organization is doing at the moment.
Unfortunately for the people of the United States, the game was aired nationally on ESPN, and it was a snooze fest – even echoed at times by the crew members working the game. The Red Wings won 2-1 on a late goal from Andrew Copp and outshot the Flyers 26-18.
Fun fact about the game winning goal, forward Michael Rasmussen’s primary assist was his first point in 31 regular season games.
The Flyers overall game plan has been so bad that you could even hear a level of frustration coming from the broadcasters, who were just as bemused as the rest of us when it came to their offensive woes. However, it’s not too hard to understand when you see players like Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov playing similar – or even less – minutes than the likes of Noel Acciari and Michael Bunting.
There’s a time and place for lineup balance and equal ice-time, but this was not it. With your game broadcasted nationally, the media catching up to your woes, and your team desperate to get out of the gutter, you don’t play Acciari more minutes than Martone and Michkov – who scored your only goal.
However, this goes beyond the coaching and player personnel. We all know the Flyers don’t have talent to challenge most teams around the league, that much was echoed consistently on air by ESPN. We also know Tocchet shouldn’t be around much longer, considering better coaches have been fired for less – Ken Hitchcock and Peter Laviolette come to mind. No, look towards the front office for their inaction and malpractice for letting this continue.
If there’s ever such a thing as a perfect time to being fired then Sunday night going into Monday morning would have been it for Tocchet and company. Not only did the Flyers get dismantled last Saturday against Boston on the road, but then they came back home the next day and looked just as bad against Carolina.
Instead, one of the first things we see on social media the following day is Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman taking to his podcast and saying that the Flyers will not be firing their head coach and that they’d be looking at other avenues to make a change.
With a spark required, the Flyers decided to sign Bunting instead of either David Perron or Vladimir Tarasenko. Both players are more in line with what the team needed in their forward group, especially offensively, compared to what Bunting would have and has offered to date.
Bunting has already seen top-6 minutes and time on PP1, where he usurped Michkov, for crying out loud.
Maybe it was too soon to sound the sirens after the 4th or 5th game, but 9 games is not too soon anymore even with 75 games still remaining on the season. While technically anything can happen and you could even point to last year’s late-season push as an optimistic sign for things to come, let’s not forget the circumstances that helped along the way.
Columbus choked in the final weeks of the regular season, the New York Islanders ran their goaltender into ground, and Florida, New Jersey, New York (Rangers), Toronto, and Washington all missed the playoffs. Not to mention they needed the Olympic break to regroup and Tocchet had help by picking the brain of Peter DeBoer.
What’s even more worrisome is that their upcoming schedule doesn’t get any easier as they have games with Ottawa, Colorado, Buffalo, Anaheim, Columbus, Washington, Utah, Minnesota, and the New York Rangers on deck. If they continue playing the way they are, there’s a legitimate chance they enter their 19th game of the season in Calgary with 1 or 2 wins at the most – if even that.
And I don’t see much changing on the ice as the players aren’t showing any level of emotion or care on the ice, which is usually the sense you get when a team has tuned out their head coach. So what’s the hold up?
The Flyers might have taken an early exit out of their rebuild with some of the verbiage that was uttered by Daniel Brière and company after last season’s successes. In 4 years as the general manager, the Flyers are still without a 1C, 1D, and game breaking talent. To make matters worse, some of the players that do possess that skill are being held back by the coaching staff for rugged veterans and checking forwards.
Keith Jones can’t be without blame either, but where does the buck stop? Comcast Spectacor CEO Dan Hilferty could go rogue and let either of them go, but considering how chummy they’ve been with one another over the course of their tenures, and how rare it is for general managers and presidents to be let go before head coaches, it’s very unlikely.
It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility though, as the Flyers did fire Ron Hextall before Dave Hakstol, and in almost similar circumstances when GM was unwilling to fire head coach. However, the difference in that situation is that the people in Hilferty’s position were calling for the head coach’s job.
Perhaps another embarrassing effort on national TV will be the catalyst to get the ball rolling or at least get the clock to start ticking. There’s not a lot of tradable pieces on the roster right now that can shake things up, so that invariably leaves the coaching staff as the easiest target.
The Flyers won’t have too much time to let things settle either with 6 games in 11 days. Additionally, their next 4 opponents are a combined 20-9-1 on the season with 98 goals scored. If you continue to let this fester, the Flyers will continue being on the wrong side of history and records, unless their goaltenders can somehow shut out the opposition for 65 minutes plus an eventual shootout.
So maybe more losses is what is needed to shake things up because it’s been a very long time since the Flyers have come close to their once high-levels of expectations. This was an organization that failed to make the playoffs only 8 times between 1967 and 2012, but have since bested that number (9 times since 2012-2013) in just 14 years.
The front offices that have taken over in the last 15 years have run on the same tired motto of playing the “Flyers way”, either forgetting or not realizing that it’s very outdated in the modern game. In an era where players are scoring 30-40 goals with ease and netting 100 points, the Flyers can’t even find a point-per-game player in their midst as they’re too focused on drafting or acquiring two-way forwards and “big” defensemen.
The “New Era of Orange” was promised to be different from their predecessors, but if they continue with this malarkey that everything is fine and “we made the playoffs last year, a step back was expected” then they’re doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, whether it be the final dark days of Paul Holmgren, the failed rebuilding efforts of Hextall, or the rebuild-retool-aggressive rebuild-aggressive retool of Chuck Fletcher.
It starts with the head coach who is refusing to change his outdated system and not allowing his young players to thrive. Then you can focus on the improving or upgrading the player personnel before taking a clean look at the front office.
FLYERS ALUMNI VEGAS AND IRELAND TRIPS
Flyers Nation and TrueFan Travel have teamed up for two trips with the Flyers Alumni!
The Las Vegas package (March 10–14) includes tickets to Flyers–Golden Knights on March 11 at T-Mobile Arena, an all-inclusive tailgate, optional flights from Philadelphia, a 4-night downtown hotel stay, an alumni pep rally and Q&A, a Flyers vs. Utah watch party, and a meet and greet.
The Ireland Golf & Tour Experience (July 20–27) includes optional flights from Philadelphia, six nights at The Brehon Killarney and Portmarnock Resort, a welcome reception, a meet and greet and Q&A with Brad Marsh, Patrick Sharp, Joe Watson, Bill Clement, Mark Recchi, and John LeClair, a live Coatesy’s Corner, and optional golf at Old Head, Dooks, Portmarnock, and Druids Glen.
Whether you’re chasing a road game in Vegas or a week on the links in Ireland, these are two chances to travel with Flyers legends!
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