Philadelphia Flyers
3 Damning Flyers Stats as Losing Streak Grows Longer
After losing 4-1 to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, John Tortorella and his Philadelphia Flyers are 1-4-1 this season.
Some Flyers players have chalked up the poor run of form to a lack of finishing in front of goal, but the eye test and the stats confirm that the cut runs much deeper than that.
The reality is that the Flyers really haven’t done anything well so far this year, aside from penalty-killing.
Simple research on Natural Stat Trick will tell you all you need to know in that regard. So, let’s talk about it.
1.) Flyers are losing the scoring chances battle
After Tuesday night’s loss to Washington, the Flyers have been out-chanced in every single game except for one. That includes strictly 5-on-5, as well as special teams.
The only game where the Flyers led their opponents in scoring chances was Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the home opener. That’s also the only game they’ve failed to score a single goal in this year.
The same is true for high-danger chances, too.
Not only are the Flyers not creating scoring chances for themselves, but they’re not preventing any either.
2.) The power play had a good run
The Flyers started the year with three straight games with more than 10 shot attempts on the power play. In the last three games, that hasn’t been the case.
In Tuesday’s loss to Washington, the Capitals out-attempted the Flyers 5-4. The Caps also scored twice shorthanded, had three scoring chances to the Flyers’ two, and created one high-danger chance, which was converted into a goal.
After creating no fewer than seven scoring chances on the power play in the first three games, the Flyers have created 10 in total in the last three games. Only one of those has turned into a goal; that was Jamie Drysdale’s long-distance floater over the shoulder of Philipp Grubauer from the 6-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 17.
Whatever happened in the last week, the Flyers’ power play has flipped a switch – from on to off.
Last season, 5-on-5 was Philadelphia’s strength, and the power play was the fatal flaw. This season, the opposite was true at the start, and now the team is misfiring in both situations.
3.) Someone stop Owen Tippett
Owen Tippett possesses a great shot, truly. There are two problems.
Tippett is jacking up shots as often as possible, and none of them have gone in yet.
Moneypuck’s numbers are not yet updated with the results from Tuesday night’s games, but at the time of this writing, Tippett is averaging the fourth-most shot attempts per game amongst forwards.
As a little exercise, here are the top 15 forwards in shot attempts per game:
Filip Forsberg, Auston Matthews, Nikita Kucherov, Tippett, Andrei Svechnikov, Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Steven Stamkos, Tage Thompson, Brady Tkachuk, Artemi Panarin, Matthew Tkachuk, David Pastrnak, Dylan Guenther, Connor McDavid.
Tippett and Guenther are the only two players on that list who have never scored 30 goals in a season at the NHL level, and Guenther has 29 goals through his first 85 games. Further to that point, only four more players have more goals than Guenther this season.
Tippett doesn’t even have one.
And now for the kicker.
Through his first five games, 46.9% of Tippett’s shot attempts (excluding blocked shots) miss the net. Combine that with the rate at which he shoots, and you have a recipe for disaster. The Flyers need to use Tippett as a shooter if he is to reach his full potential, but his shot selection has been abhorrent thus far.
That game was awful. Some thoughts:
I don’t know why Luchanko isn’t on the ice. The Flyers are a team that lacks speed and he’s one of our fastest skaters. He’s easily at least the third best center on the team, and certainly shouldn’t be getting bumped for Noah Cates.
I don’t know why Deslariers is playing if Tortorella is only going to play him 6 minutes all night.
There has to be someone from the Phantoms that can replace Zamula. He’s struggling. I’m assuming that we’d have to worry about waivers, so find an injury on him to take that concern off the table.
Drysdale continues to look lost even when partnered up with Seeler. I know when the Flyers traded for Drysdale, Tortorella said he reminded him of a “rover”. So far this year, the only Rover he’s resembling is the dog.
Laughton is playing like he just gave birth instead of his wife, and any trade value he might have had is quickly slipping away. Briere should have made that move last year, and taken what he could have gotten.
Obviously this is not the start anyone was looking for, and something needs to change. Quickly.
And with that in mind, I can look forward to seeing our crappy Russian backup goalie starting the game tonight.
Coots
6gp 0g 1a =1point
7.75million
Tippet 6.25million
6gp, 0g 1a =1point
Konecny 5.5million
6gp, 2g, 1a =3points
Farrabee 5.5million
6gp, 1g, 2a =3points
Sanheim 6.25million
6gp, 1g, 0a =1point
Ristolainen 5.5million
6gp, 0g, 0a =0points
Total of 6highest paid players
4goals, 5assists =9points
(35.8 million dollars)
Michkov
6games played
2goals, 3assists
5points
$950,000
Actually the Flyers salaries are pretty low compared to the other NHL star players.
Their issue are contracts like Kevin Hayes, Ryan Johansen et al that are still on the books.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2024/10/01/highest-paid-nhl-players-salaries-cap-hits/75312885007/
Sanheim did not even crack the top 21:
Highest-paid NHL defensemenPlayer, team, cap hit
Erik Karlsson, Pittsburgh, $11.5MRasmus Dahlin, Buffalo, $11MDrew Doughty, Los Angeles, $11MZach Werenski, Columbus, $9,6MSeth Jones, Chicago, $9,5MCharlie McAvoy, Boston, $9,5MAdam Fox, N.Y. Rangers, $9,5MDarnell Nurse, Edmonton, $9,2MRoman Josi, Nashville, $9MCale Makar, Colorado, $9MDougie Hamilton, New Jersey, $9MAlex Pietrangelo, Vegas, $8,8MMoritz Seider, Detroit, $8,5MMikhail Sergachev, Utah, $8,5MMiro Heiskanen, Dallas, $8,4MOwen Power, Buffalo, $8,3MJake Sanderson, Ottawa, $8,MBrent Burns, Carolina, $8MJohn Carlson, Washington, $8MJacob Trouba, N.Y. Rangers, $8MThomas Chabot, Ottawa, $8M
I’m not putting Sanheim down, year is still early. I am with Coots and Tippet however. 0goals and 2assists between the 2 of them? PATHETIC, (in my mind)
Just stating the salary cap hit currently, underperfoming players. Top 6 Flyers, currently playing vs Michkov. Needless to say, 36games played for the 6players, 9points. Michkov has 6games played, 5points.
This team is unwatchable! They look like a bunch of disorganized special olympians (apologies to special olympians) on the ice. How long can anyone tolerate their inability to hit the net? The offense is non-existent & the defense is awful. There’s no real leadership on this team. The tell was a couple games ago when both Michov & Konecky got layed out & not a single teammate responded. Seems like there is a troublesome attitude pervasive among Phila. pro athletes lately where they appear too comfortable with all the amenities they are provided & the passionate fan base that always shows up. Maybe a few nights of an empty arena might help them figure it out!
With 76 games left ….it is too early to talk about tanking!
But if this continues until Thanksgiving….then they better start moving out veterans that have some trade value for 2025 draft picks.
And Drysdale….up to a minus 9 in +/- in just 6 games…ouch.
I’ll mark that down on my calendar as “Tanks-giving”
They’re just not that good.
Obviously, the problems are numerous. This is a continuation of the last dozen games of last season, which is a huge concern. The team that over-achieved through hard work and disciplined play for most of last season has somehow disappeared. I had hoped that their younger players would continue to develop and, with the addition of Michkov, the team would perhaps take a small step forward and maybe be on the cusp of a playoff spot. However, they are regressing. Have they stopped playing for Tortorella? Has their disenchantment with his handling of certain players carried over to this season? It does not look like this will easily right itself soon and if it doesn’t, we will easily be in the top five for the draft lottery. That, however, will not be a remedy for the deficiencies we are seeing in talent, size, lack of discipline, and work ethic.
……and if it continues…how long does Jonesy and Briere let Torts keep coaching the team!