The Philadelphia Flyers Are Exceeding Expectations
The Philadelphia Flyers have been exceeding expectations. They have been on a hot streak recently, but they need to tweak some areas to remain playoff contenders. We are close to the halfway point of the season, and the trade deadline is quickly approaching. Danny Briere and Keith Jones have clarified that this is still a rebuild within the organization. The question looms about what will happen by the March 8th deadline. Will star players like Travis Konecny, Cam Atkinson, and even Carter Hart will be traded? With the city of Philadelphia having a “win now” mentality, it’s not aligning with the organization’s goal of taking their time to rebuild correctly.
Evaluating The Midway Point Of The Season
Besides players’ futures, other problems must be solved with the Flyers’ play style. The power play unit has been notably bad this season. Philadelphia ranks 32nd in the power play (last) with a power play goal percentage of 9.84%. Surprisingly, the penalty kill unit is one of the best in the league. Philadelphia has an exceptional penalty-kill percentage of 86%. Travis Konecny leads the NHL in shorthanded goals with five. The Flyers, as a whole, lead the NHL in shorthanded goals with 10.
One thing the Flyers don’t have to worry about is goaltending. Carter Hart and Sam Ersson have been solid in net, and Philadelphia signed KHL goalie Alexei Kolosov on an entry-level deal this past summer. Kolosov, 22 years old, will still need more development time but could be utilized soon.
Honoring Ed Snider
Although the saying is “New Era Of Orange,” there has been a lot from the past implemented for this season. Mainly to honor the late Mr. Ed Snider. When touring the Flyers’ locker room you would see a considerable photo tribute of Mr. Snider. Saturday, January 6th, was Mr. Snider’s 91st birthday. Philadelphia gave a wholesome tribute and showcased all he’s done for the organization. On ice, the Flyers had their most gritty game thus far in a scrappy win over the Flames.
With the orange and black captivating Philadelphia again, is it too soon to say the leadership between Breire and Jones is working? From low attendance to the Wells Fargo Center being filled for most of their games, it’s clear that the city missed having a good hockey team to cheer for. While a lot can still happen from the midway point of the season to the finale, Philadelphia is slowly becoming a hockey city yet again. While the Flyers are exceeding expectations, will this new style of play continue?
The All-Time Roster of Underrated Philadelphia Flyers
Mike Knuble
Peter Forsberg and Simon Gagne were the stars at the top of the lineup coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. However, there are three players on an NHL line.
Mike Knuble spent four seasons with the Flyers from 2005-06 through 2008-09, and he returned for a cup of coffee in 2013. He provided the perfect complement to a crafty playmaker like Forsberg and a finesse star like Gagne. He scored a career-high 34 goals in his first season in Philadelphia and followed it up with 24, 29, and 27 goals in the next three seasons, respectively.
Knuble knew his role as a garbage goal-scorer, and he played it damn well. He added 14 points in 24 playoff games with the Flyers, including an overtime game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals in 2008.
Kimmo Timonen
The NHL still associates the Broad Street Bullies mentality with the Flyers. Players like Chris Pronger feed into the identity of the fan base. The 6-foot-6 defenseman resonated with the fans perfectly as a fearless, powerful defenseman who became the workhorse on the Philadelphia blue line during the run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.
Kimmo Timonen didn’t have the same reputation. The Finnish puck mover was more of a classy guy off the ice who didn’t bring as much grit as Pronger, but he actually had a longer run as the top blueliner in Philadelphia.
The Flyers acquired Timonen as part of a series of trades with the Nashville Predators that pulled them out of the disaster of the 2006-07 season. He averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in each of his seven playoff series wins with the Flyers. Only Mark Howe and Eric Desjardins scored more points among defensemen in franchise history.
Dan McGillis
Hockey in the late 1990s and early 2000s required more physical defensemen while modern roster construction prioritizes puck movers on the blue line. The Flyers acquired 6-foot-3, 220-pounder Dan McGillis in 1998 during a window of Stanley Cup contention.
McGillis played 380 regular-season and playoff games in orange and black. He was the physical presence a contending team needed, but you won’t see his name in the franchise record books too often.
Stay-at-home defensemen are harder to glorify than offensive catalysts. McGillis recorded a career-high 49 points in 2000-01, and it’s no coincidence that it was the only one of his nine NHL seasons when he received Norris Trophy votes.
Steve Mason
Anyone who follows the Flyers knows the notorious reputation of the “Goalie Graveyard” in Philadelphia. The revolving door of goaltenders reached its peak with the Ilya Bryzgalov nightmare that ended in 2013, right around the time the Flyers really started to lose popularity in the Philadelphia sports landscape.
Coincidentally, the Flyers acquired Steve Mason in 2013. He spent four seasons as the top option between the pipes for forgettable Flyers teams that never won a playoff series.
Mason wasn’t some Vezina Trophy winner who would reverse the “Goalie Graveyard” narrative. He was never going to demand the attention of casual hockey fans in Philadelphia who were only interested in a contending team, but he was the type of solid goaltender for a good period of time that the Flyers haven’t usually had.
Daymond Langkow
It’s tough to identify any reason why Daymond Langkow is underrated. Like Joffrey Lupul and Sami Kapanen, he doesn’t seem to come up in conversations about the Flyers too often. The NHL journeyman notched at least 50 points in each of his two full regular seasons in Philadelphia.
He helped the Flyers advance to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2000 with 10 points in 16 games during the playoff run.
The Daymond Langkow trade tree had remarkable ripple effects on the franchise. The return package acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes in 2001 indirectly led to the acquisitions of Jeff Carter, Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul, and Chris Pronger.
