Inspirational Video

First, let me say that I do think the Flyers are slowly turning a corner towards respectability this season as Berube finally makes his mark on the team.  Regardless, I was joking around with a friend of Mostly Flyers last week, and this highly inspirational video was the result.

Missing Matt Carle

The Flyers had another sour loss the other night.  Now I will raise my hand as one of the people seeing improvement under Berube.  Their only win was not a great performance in my opinion, and while they have lost 3 in a row, they have all been credible performances with the team notably much better at 5-on-5.  Of course there are still lots to work on such as terrible special teams (compounded by taking a ton of minor penalties), 3rd period swoons...

I have faith that those things will improve, but one also has to look at the roster and identify its shortcomings. It is easy for anyone to immediately identify that the team hasn't replaced Chris Pronger, in skills or leadership, but no one mentions Matt Carle anymore.

I probably fall into the group that didn't appreciate Carle enough when he was here, and I was ready to say good riddance at his current price of $5.5m, but I have to admit his absence is really hurting.  Seeing Keith Yandle weave around the ice with the puck the other night reminded me of this, as he and Carle have very similar skill sets.  Yandle puts the puck in the net more often with a much better shot, but the puck carrying and skating is similar.

The Flyers brought in Streit, with all his offensive talents, but no expects the smaller, older Streit, to play the 23+ minutes Carle used to play.  This means the Flyers are still without a take-charge, high-minutes, puck carrying defensemen or can control the game tempo.

Holmgren is not an idiot.  He knows the Flyers defense is inadequate, and that's why he's tried to acquire Ryan Suter and Shea Weber recently.  Either way, they're not here, and something needs to be done.  There is no easy path for Holmgren that I know about, but he needs to get creative in how he can change the chemistry of the Flyers' defensive group.

ANUSTART for the Flyers

First of all, if you don't get the "a new start" joke, you should watch Arrested Development (although this joke specifically comes from Season 4, which is by far the worst season).

Anyway, I decided to get my ass to the game last night to check things out properly for the start of the Berube era.  I suppose all's well that ends well, but it was hardly an impressive performance.

Given the extremely awkward firing of Lavy, Berube tried to change things as quickly as possible.  Local media said the Flyers gameday morning skate was the longest they've ever seen, and was more like a practice with 5-on-5 scenarios, then with a team meeting after.

Changes were pretty evident on the ice against the Panthers.  On paper, all the lines and defensive pairs were different.  The more meaningful changes were a little deeper, though.  Gone was the patented Laviolette stretch-pass.  The Flyers breakout was more deliberate, with the wings not nearly as far as up the ice.

Similarly, in the defensive zone, the wingers collapsed much more to protect the net instead of having one eye towards a quick breakout.  This is a more modern/common tactic in the NHL these days, although on this night it didn't result in tighter defensive coverage.  The Panthers had a lot of time and space with the puck in the offensive zone, including some sparkling chances.  Fortunately, Mason played a great game with several big stops, and good rebound control on others.

Offensively, the differences weren't as visible, although maybe it was harder to see because the Flyers didn't spend a lot of time in the offensive zone!  Early on, they did appear a little more direct in getting the puck to scoring areas.  Both goals the Flyers scored were pretty fluky, and they didn't generate a whole lot all night.

Nevertheless, with this coaching change I am getting the change I've wanted from the Flyers tactics for quite a while (see this post from February 2012).  There remains a lot of work to do to get there, however.  There is nothing to celebrate about a 2-1 win against a terrible team on the strength of fluky goals and heroic goaltending.

This required work not only applies to the coaching staff and players, but to Holmgren as well.  Let's make these long rumored trades of moving out a defensemen or two, and begin to tailor this lineup to Berube's style of play.  This doesn't need to happen or overnight, but the current mix of players is not exactly clicking.

This all leaves me with renewed enthusiasm for the season, but the first step is scoring a few goals and showing everyone that the Flyers are not a bottom-10 NHL team.

Laviolette Fired, But Blame Homer for this Mess

I was prepared this morning to write a post about how the Flyers horrid start this season is not very surprising.  I was going to point out that, this season, the Flyers have been outscored 6-1 at 5-on-5 for a goal ratio of 0.17 (which is 29th, technically ahead of the Rangers, who have only played one game, which resulted in no 5-on-5 goals for a ratio of 0.00).  I was going to point out that, thus far, the Flyers have similarly been outscored 6-1 in the 3rd period, which is dead last in the league.

I was then going to say this shouldn't be altogether surprising. because last year the Flyers were 25th in 5-on-5 goal differential (0.86).  They were -15 in the 3rd period last year, which was 28th in the league.  In short, these are old problems, and the team largely looks the same as it did in the preseason anyway.

Lastly, I was also going to say why would you fire Laviolette after 3 games?  Again, I'll refer back to my post from March stating that it was time for a change.  The thing is, deciding a change is necessary is one thing, and doing it properly is another.  Whatever reason Holmgren had for sticking with Laviolette all this time, 3 regular season games couldn't possibly have changed everything (and I've stated above that haven't really changed much of anything, actually).

The proper way to do a coaching change is in the offseason.  Then, you have the most candidates available to choose from, and the new coach has the offseason and training camp to prepare for the season.  Firing a coach 3 games into the season is basically a GM admitting he bungled the situation.  Badly.

But here we are, and I suppose I can't be too upset.  The Flyers have looked like the worst team in the NHL thus far.  On paper, they should at least be a top-20 team, so what's the worst that could happen?  Nevertheless, I have to wonder how much structural change can be brought to a team with a midseason coaching change, that also promotes a guy already on the coaching staff (Berube).

I can now watch the game tomorrow with some interest.  Watching the Montreal and Carolina games were absolutely awful, and the Flyers looked like lame ducks.  At least they'll have some new urgency.  The problem is that Holmgren is 2/3 months late in acknowledging that things were broken, and I'm not sure the Flyers can change course as necessary in mid-season with an interim coach.

(CORRECTION: Berube is not getting the interim tag)

A Familiar Story

Another season, a familiar pattern of events.  The Flyers lost 3-1 in their opener to the Leafs, and themes of last season begin immediately this year.

First, I'll start with the positives.  Those were good debuts from Lecavalier and Streit.  I can see Streit getting a lot of points this season, and Lecavalier created a lot of chances and the only goal.  Also, Mason looked pretty good, and could not be faulted on any goal (though I do wonder if he could've done better directing the rebounds on the initial shot before the Leafs put in the rebounds for their 1st and 3rd goals).  Overall, lots of pressure from the Flyers the first 30 minutes.

Now the bad, and unfortunately none of this is new.  For all the pressure the Flyers were sustaining, only one goal.  Now Bernier played an excellent game for the Leafs, no doubt about that, but the Flyers also didn't really break down the defense.  They just had better legs at the start against a team that played an emotional game last night.  Of course, the Flyers have never been able to sustain that type of control for 60 minutes.  Once that push faded, the Flyers chances and puck possession really dried up.  And once ahead in the 3rd, the Leafs completely smothered the Flyers with vastly superior puck support and control.  The result at the end of the day was the Flyers being outscored 2-0 at 5-on-5 (the Flyers were 25th in the league in this category last year), and the Flyers came away with 0 points in a game that was tied after 2 periods (they were also awful in this category last year).

It's just one game, and the Leafs could be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, but it is discouraging to see last season's problems immediately rear their head.

It Begins

I guess it's time to get off my ass and write something here, being that the season starts tonight.  Woohoo!

I'm still firmly in wait and see mode, but I will say that I see this year's Flyers team as a borderline playoff team.  I'd put the chances of them making the playoffs at a little below 50%.  This partly has to do with a horrific preseason, but moreso because I'm reading it together with last season.  Hardcore Mostly Flyers readers will recall this post of mine, and my opinions really haven't changed since this time.

I am very worried about the Flyers ability to score at 5-on-5.  The Flyers just don't attack with efficiency and purpose.  Whether it's coaching, motivation, or talent, the Flyers often look apathetic and aimless.

There are tangible reasons I can say to myself why it should be better this year.  Lecavalier has 61 even strength points over the last 2 years, while Briere only 42 during that time.  Hartnell is in the best shape of his life after being injured and unprepared last season.  Brayden Schenn (who shall hereafter be referred to as "Bo", mainly because I want to have the brothers Bo and Luke on the Flyers roster) and Cooter are a year older.

The defense, however, did not get much of a makeover, and is curiously still bloated with 8 defensemen on the roster.  I've been waiting for a trade on that count for months.  Something's got to give there.  Streit is a PP specialist, but he's been on the second PP unit thus far because the old first unit was so effective last year, and he may not get much more than 3rd pair even strength minutes.  This is a not a sea change for a defense that appeared ill-equipped last season.

While the goalie tandem of Mason and Emery should provide the most uncertainty (in an entertaining fashion, for better or worse), the million dollar question is Laviolette's leash.  Can he survive a slow start?  I won't beat a dead horse with my opinion on the matter, but I think Laviolette has more to prove than the players  That's never a good thing.

Okay, now I have all my fretting out of the way.  Let a fun season begin!