For the past several seasons, the Philadelphia Flyers have not only been looked at as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference but the entire NHL.
This season, the team is going through something that hasn’t happened to them since their playoff-less 2006-07 season. It has to do with one word: losing.
Going into Monday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Flyers find themselves in ninth spot, set to miss the Eastern Conference playoffs at 9-10-1. In the team’s last 10 games, the Flyers are 5-4-1 and if they continue to play the way they are now, they might end up missing the postseason for the first time in five years.
For starters, the team has had to deal with several injuries. On Jan. 22, the Flyers lost one of their best offensive players in Scott Hartnell to a fractured toe. Last season, Hartnell was an offensive catalyst for the Broad Street Bullies and a leader both on and off the ice.
Further, Danny Briere, Matt Read (injured reserve) Chris Pronger (injured reserve), Andrej Meszaros (injured reserve), Zac Rinaldo (injured reserve) and Jody Shelley (injured reserve) have all missed time this season.
Another problem for the Flyers has been the fact that their captain, Claude Giroux, has yet to fully return to the form that made him their best player last season. While the 25-year-old right winger leads the team in scoring with 18 points (six goals and 12 assists), he has not been the same explosive player he was last season.
One reason Giroux’s struggles could be because he has not had his usual linemates this season. Last year, Giroux had the likes of both Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr to get the puck to and get the puck from and for Giroux, it led to him putting up 93 points (28 goals and 65 assists).
With Jagr now with the Dallas Stars and Hartnell injured for a majority of the first quarter of the season, Giroux was forced to play with several different linemates. Unfortunately for Giroux, none of these guys could add up to what both Hartnell and Jagr did for Giroux last season.
The Flyers have also taken some bad penalties this season. Right now, the team is ranked third in the league with 335 penalty minutes. With a 48-game schedule and every game meaning something, NHL teams need to do everything they can to make sure they play a disciplined style of hockey and through the first quarter of the season, the Flyers have not done so on a consistent basis.
As a result of all the penalties the Flyers have taken this season, the team’s penalty kill is ranked 18th in the league. This is something they will have to fix sooner rather than later if they want to make the postseason.
Lastly, some blame has to be placed on Flyers’ head coach Peter Laviolette. While there is no doubt that Laviolette turned the team around when he was first hired by the team in December 2009, he no longer has the luxury of time to get his club going.
Laviolette must figure out a way to get his offence, particularly his best player in Giroux, going and to have the rest of the team follow suit. If Laviolette is not able to do this, do not be surprised if Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren makes a move or two at the trade deadline.
