Philadelphia Flyers
Carchidi: On the Flyers, Their Playoff Chances, and Bryz Lite
Observations along the Flyers’ beat…
The All-Star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Before the break, they had lost five in a row and appeared to be running on fumes. They are 2-0 since returning, recording quality wins against Florida and Winnipeg, two strong opponents.
Sam Ersson, the team’s new No. 1 goalie, struggled in his last four games before the break. Refreshed, he is 2-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and .960 save percentage since the break ended, keying both victories. The Flyers dominated the first period Thursday but played too much defense over the last 40 minutes. Ersson, however, stood tall and Philly was never threatened in its 4-1 win over the visiting Jets.
“We have to close out games better, but Erssy was great for us again,” center Scott Laughton said.
Apparently upset about the last two periods, Coach John Tortorella didn’t seem pleased, giving terse answers to questions after the game. But hey, two points is two points is two points.
In their previous four games before Thursday, the Flyers had been outscored in the first period by a combined 7-0. They turned the tables against the Jets, outscoring them, 3-0, in the first 20 minutes. Travis Konecny had a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, fight, and assist — in the opening period.
Torts was in a good mood then.
By the way, Howe had only two such hat tricks in his entire career.
Former Flyer Rick Tocchet had 18, the most in NHL history.
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Nice to see right winger Tyson Foerster heating up. He struggled to find the net earlier in the season but scored in his third straight game Thursday, netting the first goal and setting the tone. He now has 10 goals in 51 games and has impressed everyone with his strong two-way play.
The Flyers got it right when they chose him 23rd overall in the 2020 draft.
Thanks in part to Foerster, Philly leads the league in chances off transition this season. Foerster’s goal was a prime example of why they are getting those opportunities as he drove to the net and finished off Ryan Poehling’s feed. In the second period, Poehling’s shorthanded goal was also off the rush.
“We play so fast and it’s hard for teams to keep up with us,” Poehling said.
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On Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Thursday, host Steve Kouleas asked if I thought the Philadelphia Flyers would make the playoffs.
I told him the Flyers deserve lots of credit, that Tortorella is getting more out of them than imaginable.
But that if I was backed into a corner, I think they will miss the playoff party.
Again, they have overachieved and have made watching them fun again; rarely does an opponent outwork them. But I think losing Carter Hart, a questionable offense, and an awful power play will catch up to them. And the fact the Flyers will probably trade a veteran or two also factors into it being difficult for them to earn their first playoff spot in four years.
That said, they are having fun trying to prove the doubters wrong.
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Should the Flyers be buyers or sellers before the March 8 trade deadline?
Sellers.
Yes, it would be wonderful for the young players to get a taste of the playoffs, but this year’s focus should be on the rebuild. If you read between the lines, GM Danny Briere feels the same way.
The Flyers could improve their playoff chances by adding a piece or two. If it comes at the expense of high draft picks, it would be a major mistake. That’s why I believe two of the following four players will be dealt: Laughton, Nick Seeler, Sean Walker and Rasmus Ristolainen. Marc Staal might also go, but he would only net a nominal return.
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As colleague Jon Bailey noted in an interesting story the other day, the Flyers will have the opportunity to draft promising goalie Vladislav Bryzgalov, 18, this June. He is the son of former Flyer Ilya Bryzgalov.
The odds on that happening are slim and slimmer.
“Why you heff to be mad?” the elder Bryzgalov, now 43, would probably counter.
Signing Ilya turned out to be a Bryzaster, and I’d be shocked if they wanted to have him back around the rink and be a potential distraction.
For the record, covering Bryz was a blast. He was colorful, funny, unique and a quote machine. In other words, he was a beat writer’s “humungous” dream.
Sam Carchidi writes a weekly column for Philly Hockey Now. He and Jeff Hare are working on a TV series on the Flyers’ glory days, tentatively called “Bullies.” Carchidi can be reached at samcarchidi55@gmail.com.
I wasn’t wild about Torts being signed–not because I didn’t like him or respect his coaching ability, but because he would have complicated any attempt at tanking/getting high-end prospects. Conversely, he’s building a culture change that stresses hard work and accountability regardless of the final score. Get the players to play to their maximum potential, and have a high compete level. Those are two fundamentals that the team has been missing since…2012.
If you don’t have those, and still have high-end talent, you have the Oilers or Maple Leafs.
I was hoping the Flyers would aspire to be more like the Avalanche or Lightning (or maybe Hurricanes), but this path forward isn’t bad. It just places a lot of emphasis on the scouting department to make sure they don’t botch drafts like Hextall, but instead land those gold nuggets that fall like Kucherov or Pastrnak. And more picks=more swings. If the Flyers can stack up a few more first and second round picks over the next three years, and maybe another Tippett-type project, then they’re making good progress.
I see all the guys you mentioned getting traded. Before the season, I would have seen Konecny or Hart being traded as well. I don’t think the Flyers could get a strong enough return to warrant trading Konecny at this point. I also imagine they maybe wish they traded Hart.
I’ll never understand why people crap on Hexy. He was doing the same as Briere is currently. He clashed with the “old boys club”(Obviously Clarke, Homer and other alumni) because they wanted to win now like always with zero patience. Hexy laid out a 7 year plan to Mr Snider who signed off on it knowing with his health he likely won’t be here for the results. The minute something bad happened and Mr Snider was gone Homer jumped at dumping Hexy.
Off the top of my head Hexy drafted current Flyers Frost, Farabee, TK, Hart, Erson, Sanheim and Cates. So that’s both your goalies currently(obviously Hart situation doesn’t look good but he’s a bona-fide #1) which has been a issue for 30 years now, team leader and all star TK along with solid wings Farabee and Frost to go along with Cates who as recently as early this season was likened to Couts with the ability to shut down other teams top players and lastly our #1 dman Sanheim.
Hexy did all this to dig out the trash heap Homer created and some of his trades are downright amazing quite honestly getting assets AND cap space for junk.
Getting 3rd from Boston for soon to be FA Mezarous, which I’m sure I butchered his name.
Turned Mcginn into a 3rd from San Jose.
Swapping Hartnell for a also declining Umberger and a 4th. That was about contract term and cap hit mostly.
Getting a 2nd and 3rd for kimmo who didnt play a game for the Flyers all that season due to injury.
Traded Coburn to TB for a 1st and 3rd along with Gudas.
At the draft he traded the 1st from Coburn trade and the 2nd from Kimmo trade to move up to draft TK.
Getting a decent return in Gagner and a 4th for 2 players(Grossman and Prongers contract) who were both done by this point.
Getting a 3rd from Boston for Rinaldo.
He got out of that Vinny Lecavalier contract when packaging him with another anchor in Luke schenn to bring back a 3rd and Jordan Weal.
Traded Strait and his expiring contract which brought back a serviceable winger during a rebuild in Filppuila and a 4th and 7th.
Then of course trading B Schenn to the Blues for 1yr of lehteras expiring deal along with two 1sts which became Frost and Farabee. Schenn became available due to landing the #2 overall pick which was used on Nolan Patrick.
So not taking into account FA signings you would of had Couts, G and Patrick as your centers with young wings in Frost, Farabee, TK, Lindblom and ugh yes Laughton to go with vets like Simmonds and Vorechek. Frost and Laughton were/are C’s as well.
Sanheim(I think 16th but might be wrong) and Provorov(7th) both drafted high in the 1st rounds of each of their drafts along with already on the roster ghost. Hexy did well with undrafted players as well like Phil Myers(who like almost every single prospect regressed after Hexys firing)and current dman Zamula.
Lastly, not addressing the goaltending which Homer said was key to Hextalls firing, because you know Homer and Clarke did that soooo well. Carter Hart, Sandstrom, Fedotov(remember him this past off-season?)and Ersson were all drafted by Hexy.
That was all within roughly 3 1/2 years and had dug out of so many bad contracts while receiving assets in return. He didn’t give players away like how Ghost was packaged with a 2nd rounder and another late pick for cap space because you know we had to have kevin hayes(7yr-7.1 per contract) to push us over the top for a definite cup run since we were so close(sarcasm). Oh btw gave away a 5th rounder just to get a headstart on signing Hayes when most likely he hits the FA market a month later.
There are other fun things I could get into about timelines of good players set to become FA’s, like Johnny hockey for example, in the years coming up because if you look at the contracts Hextall got out from under you can see they were likely to have money to spend to be able to go after those pieces that help good teams become real legit contenders. I’m sure this will be laughed at etc but if you really look at this it shows hextalls plan and where it was going.
From what I heard….ignored scouts and selected Nolan Patrick over Cale Makar.
“….two of the following four players will be dealt: Laughton, Nick Seeler, Sean Walker and Rasmus Ristolainen:
I think other than Seeler….who Torts loves…..the other three could go…..maybe Laughts and Walker together in a [ackage deal and, Risto….maybe to the Leafs…with the Flyers picking up 40/45% of his contract.
If Danny B can get 1st or 2nd round draft picks, great.