The Philadelphia Flyers are 6-3-1 through their first 10 games. The 10-game mark is generally considered a good sample size when it comes to getting a sneak peek on how teams or individuals are playing. In today’s article, we are taking a closer look on how the team has played.
For starters, there are a lot of positives, whether that is players on early hot streaks, team goaltending, or the penalty kill. While there is a possibility of regression in any of those areas, their has been enough evidence to suggest that even if they do, these strengths will continue to be a pillar of the Flyers identity this season.
Of course, there are areas with room for improvement. It’s not hard to look at their scoring at 5v5, and the power play may be their most obvious weak points. It’s also not difficult to see the Flyers taking smaller steps to improve at their scoring opportunities as well, especially when certain key players begin to score more goals.
Team Standings
Record: 6-3-1
League Standings: 14th
Playoff Standings: 1st Wild Card
The Offense
Goals Scored: 27th (28)
Goals Scored per Game: 23rd (2.8)
Shots For per Game: 32nd (23.1)
Power Play: 17th (20%)
Heading into the season, Flyers fans, particularly the online variety, debated endlessly about Rick Tocchet‘s approach in the offense zone. Generally speaking, teams under Tocchet play more of a cycle game. His teams focus on attacking the middle of the ice and create more down low for high-danger scoring chances. This means sacrificing some volume from the blue line.
There is a lot to appreciate in this philosophy. Scoring chances closer to the goalie and in the middle of the ice does lead to more goals. With the Flyers’ current core group of younger players, teaching them how to get to the best areas can provide huge dividends in the long term. Right now though, they are struggling.
That is not to say it is without reason. It is, after all, just 10 games into a season with a new coaching staff, and new on ice strategies. Growing pains were always expected, especially with a Flyers team that finished 28th in the league just last season. Perhaps Tocchet’s teams will never grade out especially well in their shots per game, but being dead last in the league will not be in a formula for success and, dare I say, for a playoff push.
Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators was the closest thing to how bad the Flyers could look. Yes, they were bailed out by Dan Vladař. Yes, they were unbelievably fortunate to score the first 2 goals, and eventually win the game 4-1. The Predators are looking like a bad team again, starting the year at 4-6-2 and sitting 28th overall in the league. Based on the Flyers’ offensive profile, it felt like an anomaly for this team to be so opportunistic in their goal scoring. The shots on goal ended up totaling to 33-18 in favor of the Predators. If this was just about another other semi-good team, you’re losing this game 9 out of 10 times. If Vladař was not playing out of his mind, it would look a lot closer to the goaltending we experienced last season.
The Power Play
It’s hard to believe, and it is early, but the Flyers are ranked 17th in the league on the power play. The Flyers currently operate at a 20% success rate. Compared to last season, where they finished 30th (15%), this is a major improvement. However, before the Nashville game, the Flyers ranked 24th (17.2%). This just goes to show how early it is in the season, but the point is the power play has not been consistent enough.
However, they have made noticeable improvements. Trevor Zegras has provided a lot of life and creativity that is leading to more goals on the Flyers power play. The Flyers’ biggest challenge – and this has been true at 5v5 – is their finishing ability. It does seem like for the most part, they are making plays. However, when it comes to the execution of things, there is still work to be done.
The Defense
It has been the Flyers’ calling card all season. Travis Sanheim continues to play the part of a top NHL defenseman. Cam York is still a strong two-way, top-4 defenseman. The most exciting player on the back-end has arguably been Jamie Drysdale. While it may not be an offensive breakout for Drysdale, he has been playing very well. Although Drysdale’s reputation around the league was being an offensively-oriented player, he has been a different one in Philadelphia. Clever poke checks and leveraging his plus-plus skating have been successful areas for him in the early going. That side of his area is allowing him to flash more of that first pass he can make to transition the offense, or skating the puck up ice. He even scored a goal down low in Thursday night’s victory. The thing with team defense though is it goes behind your defensemen.
This may have flown over a lot of heads, but the Flyers have a lot of high IQ defensive mind when looking at their forward depth. You look at players like Sean Couturier, Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster, and even Bobby Brink who grade out especially well in their defensive games. Tocchet’s defensive structure emphasizes on limiting high-danger chances. His teams achieve this by keeping the puck to the perimeter and boxing out opponents in front of the net. So far, it’s working out quite well.
The Goaltending
While the team goaltending does rank 5th in the NHL, the lion’s share of that work belongs to Vladař. Through 6 games played, Vladař owns a 4-2-0 record and a .939 SV%. By himself, he ranks 3rd in the league in save percentage, and 1st among goalies that have played in 4 or more games. Vladař has been nothing short of phenomenal and is proving skeptics, and even his prior career history, wrong. While he was tasked with the more difficult matchups in Calgary to shelter Dustin Wolf, your numbers are your numbers.
Leading into this season, Vladař had a career .897 SV%. To further illustrate how unreal his start has been, Vladar had a career 3.00 goals against average, but this season he has just a 1.67 GAA. Not even superstar goaltenders can maintain this level of play, and he likely will not either. However, it’s hard to imagine his play seriously falls off a cliff.
Which brings us to his counterpart, Samuel Ersson. He holds a 2-1-0 record with a 3.08 GAA and .876 SV%. It was disappointing to hear that Ersson was moved to IR after a strong game on Tuesday night where the Flyers beat the Penguins 3-2 in a shootout. In that game, he stopped 24 of 26 shots and finished with a .923 SV%. It is correct that these numbers have not been truly reflective of Ersson. At some point though, he has to change that narrative. It makes his minor injury all the more frustrating considering how well he did on Tuesday. Ersson “tweaked something” in practice on Wednesday, which some suspect could be a groin injury, and that’s a problem that has plagued most of his NHL career. It’ll be interesting to say the least on how the rest of this season goes for who was expected to be the Philadelphia’s starting goaltender.
Summary
The Philadelphia Flyers combine an extremely defensive sound team with elite play in their net. While their offense needs improvements, their are signs there are more to come. Early on in the season, the powerplay currently rests at 20%, and would be a major success if sustained.
Can the Flyers improve their shot output in high-danger scoring areas? If the goaltending regresses, can they at least maintain league averaging goaltending? Will the power play continue to score, or even improve, at their current pace? It is up to the Flyers to deliver those answers, and they will, for better or for worse.
